Biology · Plant Kingdom · NEET
An amphibian (like a frog) lives on land but returns to water to reproduce. Bryophytes do the same. The plant body grows on land in soil, but their male gametes (antherozoids) are flagellated and can only swim. So water is required for them to reach the female egg. Living on land + needing water for sex = amphibian. This is the exact NCERT line and the most common way NEET tests this concept.
They need actual liquid water (even a thin film) at the moment of sexual reproduction. The antheridium releases biflagellate antherozoids into water; these swim to the flask-shaped archegonium and fuse with the egg. Without a water film, the male gamete cannot travel. This is why bryophytes only grow in damp, humid, shaded places.
The main plant body is the gametophyte, and it is HAPLOID (n). It is the dominant, green, photosynthetic phase. It produces the gametes. NEET loves this: in bryophytes the gametophyte dominates, while the sporophyte (2n) is smaller, attached to the gametophyte, and depends on it for food.
No. Bryophytes LACK true roots, stem and leaves. They only have root-like, stem-like and leaf-like structures. They attach to the ground using rhizoids (unicellular or multicellular). This is why the bryophyte body is called thallus-like — more advanced than algae but still not a true vascular plant.
Bryophytes are divided into (1) liverworts — thalloid and dorsiventral body, example Marchantia; and (2) mosses — upright slender axes with spirally arranged leaves, examples Funaria, Polytrichum and Sphagnum. Remember: liverwort body = flat thallus; moss body = leafy upright shoot.
Both use water for male gamete transfer, but the bryophyte body is more differentiated than algae (thallus-like, prostrate or erect, with rhizoids and root/stem/leaf-like parts), the sex organs are MULTICELLULAR (antheridium and archegonium), and there is a clear sporophyte attached to the gametophyte. Algae are simpler and mostly aquatic; bryophytes are the first plants adapted to land.
In bryophytes and pteridophytes, transport of male gametes requires:
Match the plant with the kind of life cycle it exhibits: (a) Spirogyra (b) Fern (c) Funaria (d) Cycas — (i) Dominant diploid sporophyte with highly reduced gametophyte (ii) Dominant haploid free-living gametophyte (iii) Dominant diploid sporophyte alternating with reduced gametophyte called prothallus (iv) Dominant haploid leafy gametophyte alternating with partially dependent multicellular sporophyte
Try the real previous-year questions from this chapter — each with the answer and a full solution.
Marchantia (a liverwort), and Funaria, Polytrichum and Sphagnum (mosses). Sphagnum is important because it provides peat used as fuel and packing material.
No. The sporophyte is NOT free-living. It is attached to the photosynthetic gametophyte and gets its nourishment from it. Only some cells of the sporophyte undergo meiosis to produce haploid spores.
The male sex organ is the antheridium (produces biflagellate antherozoids). The female sex organ is the archegonium, which is flask-shaped and produces a single egg. Both are multicellular.
Mosses along with lichens are the first organisms to colonise bare rocks, so they help in plant succession. They decompose rocks to make soil suitable for higher plants, and their dense mats reduce the impact of rain and prevent soil erosion.
No. Bryophytes have no vascular tissue (no xylem or phloem) and no true roots, stems or leaves. Pteridophytes are the FIRST plants to have vascular tissue, not bryophytes.
