Title: Plant Diversity
Course: Question Banks

Q: A key danger that had to be overcome in the movement of plants to terrestrial habitats was the threat of ________.
- predators (Incorrect. Lands plants evolved before land animals, so for a while there were no land predators.)
- insufficient carbon dioxide (Incorrect. There is actually more carbon dioxide in the air than in the water, so land had plenty.)
- desiccation (Correct. The biggest hurdle to overcome initially was developing a means to stay moist outside an aquatic environment.)
A: desiccation

Q: Land plants are also called ________ after protective and supportive features present in the diploid life stage.
- sporophytes (Incorrect. Land plants are not known as sporophytes; this is a specific stage in alternation of generations.)
- charophytes (Incorrect. This is a lineage of algae that may or may not be classified as a plant.)
- embryophytes (Correct. The female gametophyte provides protection and nutrients to the embryo as it develops into the new sporophyte. All land plants are sometimes called embryophytes after this structure.)
A: embryophytes

Q: Plants first colonized the land during the ________ period.
- Cambrian (Incorrect. Land plants had not appeared on Earth during the Cambrian.)
- Devonian (Incorrect. Vascular plants evolved during the Devonian but these were not the first land plants.)
- Ordovician (Correct. More than 500 million years ago, the ancestor of modern land plants colonized the land during the Ordovician period.)
A: Ordovician

Q: Land plants and their close relative green algae have the same ________.
- root structures (Incorrect. Green algae do not have roots.)
- alternation of generations (Incorrect. Not all green algae undergo alternation of generations.)
- chlorophyll molecules (Correct. This is one of the justifications for placing green algae in the same phylum as land plants.)
A: chlorophyll molecules

Q: The ________ are multicellular like the embryophytes.
- Chlamydomonas (Incorrect. Chlamydomonas are single-celled organisms.)
- Ulva (Incorrect Ulva is colonial, not multicelled.)
- Chara (Correct. Skunkweed is a multicelled green algae closely related to land plants.)
A: Chara

Q: Charales differ from land plants in that they do not have ________.
- chlorophyll molecules (Incorrect. This is one of the justifications for placing green algae in the same phylum as land plants.)
- sporopollenin (Incorrect. Charales do produce sporopollenin, just like land plants.)
- alternation of generations (Correct. Charales do not undergo alternation of generations.)
A: alternation of generations

Q: In bryophytes, the conspicuous vegetative organs are part of the ________.
- sporophyte (Incorrect. The sporophyte is barely noticeable in bryophytes.)
- vascular tissue (Incorrect. Bryophytes do not have vascular tissue.)
- haploid organism (Correct. The gametophyte has the conspicuous vegetative organs such as leaf-like structures, thallus, stem, and rhizoid.)
A: haploid organism

Q: ________ can reproduce asexually by breaking and spreading gemmae.
- Hornworts (Incorrect. Hornworts do not produce gemmae for asexual reproduction.)
- Mosses (Incorrect. Mosses do not produce gemmae for asexual reproduction.)
- Liverworts (Correct. Liverworts can reproduce asexually by releasing small, intact, complete pieces of the plant called gemmae.)
A: Liverworts

Q: Hornworts are named after the structure of their ________.
- gametophytes (Incorrect. Hornworts are not named after their gametophyte structure.)
- gemmae (Incorrect. Hornworts do not have gemmae.)
- sporophytes (Correct. Hornworts are so called because the sporophyte is a narrow, pipe-like structure in these plants.)
A: sporophytes

Q: The ________ are used in air quality monitoring due to their sensitivity to pollution.
- hornworts (Incorrect. Hornworts are not particularly sensitive to air pollution.)
- liverworts (Incorrect. Liverworts are not particularly sensitive to air pollution.)
- mosses (Correct. Mosses are quite sensitive to air quality and can be used as an indicator species for pollution.)
A: mosses

Q: Nonvascular plants require ________ for reproduction.
- wind (Incorrect. Nonvascular plants do not require wind for reproduction.)
- nonmotile gametes (Incorrect. Non-vascular plants have flagellated gametes that swim during fertilization.)
- water (Correct. Bryophytes require water in order to reproduce.)
A: water

Q: ________ tissue allows plants to transport moisture and nutrients.
- Nonvascular (Incorrect. Nonvascular tissue cannot transport moisture or nutrients.)
- Both vascular and nonvascular (Incorrect. Nonvascular tissue cannot transport moisture or nutrients.)
- Vascular (Correct. Vascular tissue is necessary to conduct moisture and nutrients in larger and taller plants.)
A: Vascular

Q: In nonvascular plants, the ________ is the dominant phase of the lifecycle.
- sporophyte (Incorrect. The sporophyte is dominant in vascular plants.)
- sporangium (Incorrect. Nonvascular plants do have a sporangium but it is not a dominant phase of the lifecycle.)
- gametophyte (Correct. The haploid organism is the dominant phase of a nonvascular plant’s lifecycle.)
A: gametophyte

Q: In tracheophytes, the conspicuous vegetative organs are part of the ________.
- seed (Incorrect. Tracheophytes do not have seeds.)
- haploid organism (Incorrect. The gametophyte is inconspicuous in tracheophytes.)
- sporophyte (Correct. The sporophyte is the dominant phase of the life cycle of seedless vascular plants.)
A: sporophyte

Q: The ________ are all seedless vascular plants.
- mosses (Incorrect. Most mosses are actually nonvascular; only the club mosses are tracheophytes.)
- liverworts (Incorrect. Liverworts are nonvascular plants.)
- ferns (Correct. Horsetails, ferns, and whisk ferns are all seedless vascular plants.)
A: ferns

Q: The greatest impact of seedless vascular plants on everyday life is from ________.
- their role as pioneering species (Incorrect. Pioneer species are important for succession but this is not the largest impact on daily life.)
- medicinal and food use (Incorrect. On the whole, seedless vascular plants provide few medicinal compounds or food items.)
- their role in coal formation (Correct. Extinct, fossilized forms of the seedless vascular plants gave rise to the large deposits of coal used to fuel daily life and activities.)
A: their role in coal formation

Q: The most abundant plant group in terrestrial biomes is the ________ group.
- gymnosperm (Incorrect. Gymnosperms dominated the landscape in the Triassic and Jurassic, but no longer.)
- pterophyte (Incorrect. The primitive vascular plants are now extinct.)
- angiosperm (Correct. Angiosperms appeared in the middle of the Cretaceous and are now the dominant land plant group.)
A: angiosperm

Q: A key adaptation that allowed plants to inhabit the many terrestrial biome is ________.
- vascular tissue (Incorrect. Some vascular plants still require water for reproduction in particular.)
- sporopollenin (Incorrect. Most land plants, and some algae, produce sporopollenin to help protect reproductive spores; many of these still require moist habitats.)
- seeds (Correct. Seeds in particular allow plants to move away from watery environments and moist locations.)
A: seeds

Q: The ________ were the first gymnosperms to appear during the Jurassic, and survive today as a single species.
- Conifers (Incorrect. Conifers are a type of gymnosperm but there are many surviving species of conifers.)
- Amborella (Incorrect. This is the genus of the most primitive living angiosperm.)
- Ginkgoales (Correct. Gingko biloba is the sole surviving Ginkgoale.)
A: Ginkgoales

Q: Gymnosperms remain the prominent plants in ________ weather.
- hot and dry (Incorrect. Gymnosperms do not survive well in particularly hot environments.)
- wet and temperate (Incorrect. Gymnosperms are not adapted to wet, temperate environments.)
- dry and cold (Correct. Evolutionary adaptations to scarce fresh water or nitrogen-poor bogs enable gymnosperms to continue to thrive in taiga, where weather is cold and dry.)
A: dry and cold

Q: All ________ are heterosporous.
- angiosperms (Incorrect. All angiosperms are not heterosporous.)
- bryophytes (Incorrect. All bryophytes are not heterosporous.)
- gymnosperms (Correct. Gymnosperms produce two different kinds of spores.)
A: gymnosperms

Q: The closest gymnosperm relatives to the angiosperms are the ________.
- cycads (Incorrect. Cycads are often mistaken for palms, a type of angiosperm, but they are not the closest relatives.)
- conifers (Incorrect. Conifers are the dominant phylum of gymnosperms, but not the closest relatives to angiosperms.)
- gnetophytes (Correct. The gnetophytes are the closest relatives to modern angiosperms.)
A: gnetophytes

Q: Gymnosperms are characterized by their ________.
- covered or protected seeds (Incorrect. Gymnosperms do not have covered seeds.)
- lack of vascular structures (Incorrect. Gymnosperms have vascular tissue.)
- naked seeds (Correct. Gymnosperm means “naked seed.”)
A: naked seeds

Q: The angiosperm phylum is the ________ diverse phylum of Eukarya.
- most (Incorrect. Anthophyta is not the most diverse phylum.)
- least (Incorrect. Anthophyta is not the least diverse phylum.)
- second most (Correct. Angiosperm is the second most diverse phylum.)
A: second most

Q: Flowers are actually ________.
- early versions of fruit (Incorrect. Flowers and fruit are both reproductive structures in angiosperms.)
- a sporophyte phase (Incorrect. Flowers are not an adult stage of angiosperm.)
- modified leaves (Correct. Flowers are modified leaves, or sporophylls, organized around a central stalk.)
A: modified leaves

Q: Angiosperms are characterized by their ________.
- naked seeds (Incorrect. Angiosperms do not have naked seeds.)
- lack of vascular structures (Incorrect. Angiosperms do not lack vascular structures.)
- covered or protected seeds (Correct. Angiosperms have covered seeds.)
A: covered or protected seeds

Q: ________ have a single cotyledon in the seedlings, while ________ have two cotyledons.
- Monocots; basal angiosperm (Incorrect. Basal angiosperm share features with both the two major groups of angiosperms, including different numbers of cotyledons.)
- Grasses; fruit trees (Incorrect. Fruit trees have different numbers of cotyledons, depending on the species.)
- Monocots; eudicots (Correct. Mono = a single cotyledon while eudicots (true dicots) have two.)
A: Monocots; eudicots

Q: The spices black pepper and vanilla are actually ________ of some plants.
- pollen (Incorrect. Black pepper and vanilla are not pollen.)
- dried fruits (Incorrect. Black pepper and vanilla are not dried fruits.)
- seeds (Correct. Black pepper is the seed of the flowering vine Piper nigrum, while vanilla is a seed of the Vanilla orchids.)
A: seeds

Q: Taxol, a cancer chemotherapy drug, is produced by ________.
- Ephedra spp. (Incorrect. Ephedra spp. provides ephedrine, a decongestant.)
- Digitalis purpured (Incorrect. Foxglove produces digitalis, which is used to treat heart disease.)
- Taxus brevifolia (Correct. The Pacific yew provides the compound taxol.)
A: Taxus brevifolia

Q: Flowers that rely on butterflies and bees for pollination often ________.
- have large, red, funnel-shaped flowers with little smell (Incorrect. These types of flowers are preferred by hummingbirds.)
- have white flowers (Incorrect. White flowers are used by plants that have night pollinators, such as moths.)
- display low ultraviolet reflectance near the center of the flower (Correct. The pattern helps the insect pollinators find the center of the flower; they are then covered in pollen while collecting nectar from that center.)
A: display low ultraviolet reflectance near the center of the flower