1.
Antheridium
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An antheridium is a haploid structure or organ producing and containing male gametes. The plural form is antheridia, and a structure containing one or more antheridia is called an androecium, androecium is also used as the collective term for the stamens of flowering plants. Antheridia are present in the phase of cryptogams like bryophytes. Many algae and some fungi, for example ascomycetes and water moulds, in gymnosperms and angiosperms, the male gametophytes have been reduced to pollen grains and in most of these the antheridia have been reduced to a single generative cell within the pollen grain. During pollination, this cell divides and gives rise to sperm cells. The female counterpart to the antheridium in cryptogams is the archegonium, an antheridium typically consists of sterile cells and spermatogenous tissue. The sterile cells may form a support structure or surround the spermatogenous tissue as a protective jacket. The spermatogenous cells give rise to spermatids via mitotic cell division, in some bryophytes, the antheridium is borne on an antheridiophore, a stalk-like structure that carries the antheridium at its apex. Hornworts have antheridia, in some cases arranged within androecia, microsporangia produce spores that give rise to male gametophytes. National council for Science and the Environment
2.
Moss
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Mosses are small flowerless plants that typically grow in dense green clumps or mats, often in damp or shady locations. Although some species have conducting tissues, these are poorly developed. Mosses do not have seeds and after fertilisation develop sporophytes with unbranched stalks topped with single capsules containing spores and they are typically 0. 2–10 cm tall, though some species are much larger. Dawsonia, the tallest moss in the world, can grow to 50 cm in height, mosses are commonly confused with lichens, hornworts, and liverworts. Lichens may superficially look like mosses, and have names that include the word moss. This contrasts with the pattern in all plants, where the diploid sporophyte generation is dominant. Mosses are now classified on their own as the division Bryophyta, the main commercial significance of mosses is as the main constituent of peat, although they are also used for decorative purposes, such as in gardens and in the florist trade. Traditional uses of mosses included as insulation and for the ability to absorb liquids up to 20 times their weight, botanically, mosses are non-vascular plants in the land plant division Bryophyta. They are small plants that absorb water and nutrients mainly through their leaves and harvest carbon dioxide. They differ from plants in lacking water-bearing xylem tracheids or vessels. As in liverworts and hornworts, the gametophyte generation is the dominant phase of the life cycle. This contrasts with the pattern in all plants, where the diploid sporophyte generation is dominant. Mosses reproduce using spores, not seeds, and have no flowers, Moss gametophytes have stems which may be simple or branched and upright or prostrate. Their leaves are simple, usually only a layer of cells with no internal air spaces. They do not have roots, but have threadlike rhizoids that anchor them to their substrate. Mosses do not absorb water or nutrients from their substrate through their rhizoids and they can be distinguished from liverworts by their multi-cellular rhizoids. Spore-bearing capsules or sporangia of mosses are borne singly on long, unbranched stems, thereby distinguishing them from the polysporangiophytes, the spore-bearing sporophytes are short-lived and dependent on the gametophyte for water supply and nutrition. Also, in most mosses, the capsule enlarges and matures after its stalk elongates
3.
Flower
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A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in plants that are floral. The biological function of a flower is to effect reproduction, usually by providing a mechanism for the union of sperm with eggs, Flowers may facilitate outcrossing or allow selfing. Some flowers produce diaspores without fertilization, Flowers contain sporangia and are the site where gametophytes develop. Many flowers have evolved to be attractive to animals, so as to them to be vectors for the transfer of pollen. After fertilization, the ovary of the flower develops into fruit containing seeds, the essential parts of a flower can be considered in two parts, the vegetative part, consisting of petals and associated structures in the perianth, and the reproductive or sexual parts. A stereotypical flower consists of four kinds of structures attached to the tip of a short stalk, each of these kinds of parts is arranged in a whorl on the receptacle. The four main whorls are as follows, Collectively the calyx, corolla, the next whorl toward the apex, composed of units called petals, which are typically thin, soft and colored to attract animals that help the process of pollination. Androecium, the whorl, consisting of units called stamens. Stamens consist of two parts, a called a filament, topped by an anther where pollen is produced by meiosis. Gynoecium, the innermost whorl of a flower, consisting of one or more units called carpels, the carpel or multiple fused carpels form a hollow structure called an ovary, which produces ovules internally. Ovules are megasporangia and they in turn produce megaspores by meiosis which develop into female gametophytes and these give rise to egg cells. The gynoecium of a flower is described using an alternative terminology wherein the structure one sees in the innermost whorl is called a pistil. A pistil may consist of a carpel or a number of carpels fused together. The sticky tip of the pistil, the stigma, is the receptor of pollen, the supportive stalk, the style, becomes the pathway for pollen tubes to grow from pollen grains adhering to the stigma. The relationship to the gynoecium on the receptacle is described as hypogynous, perigynous, although the arrangement described above is considered typical, plant species show a wide variation in floral structure. These modifications have significance in the evolution of flowering plants and are used extensively by botanists to establish relationships among plant species, the four main parts of a flower are generally defined by their positions on the receptacle and not by their function. Many flowers lack some parts or parts may be modified into other functions and/or look like what is typically another part, in some families, like Ranunculaceae, the petals are greatly reduced and in many species the sepals are colorful and petal-like. Other flowers have modified stamens that are petal-like, the flowers of Peonies and Roses are mostly petaloid stamens
4.
Flowering plant
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The flowering plants, also known as Angiospermae or Magnoliophyta, are the most diverse group of land plants, with 416 families, approx. 13,164 known genera and a total of c.295,383 known species, etymologically, angiosperm means a plant that produces seeds within an enclosure, in other words, a fruiting plant. The term angiosperm comes from the Greek composite word meaning enclosed seeds, the ancestors of flowering plants diverged from gymnosperms in the Triassic Period, during the range 245 to 202 million years ago, and the first flowering plants are known from 160 mya. They diversified extensively during the Lower Cretaceous, became widespread by 120 mya, angiosperms differ from other seed plants in several ways, described in the table. These distinguishing characteristics taken together have made the angiosperms the most diverse and numerous land plants, the amount and complexity of tissue-formation in flowering plants exceeds that of gymnosperms. The vascular bundles of the stem are arranged such that the xylem and phloem form concentric rings, in the dicotyledons, the bundles in the very young stem are arranged in an open ring, separating a central pith from an outer cortex. In each bundle, separating the xylem and phloem, is a layer of meristem or active formative tissue known as cambium, the soft phloem becomes crushed, but the hard wood persists and forms the bulk of the stem and branches of the woody perennial. Among the monocotyledons, the bundles are more numerous in the stem and are scattered through the ground tissue. They contain no cambium and once formed the stem increases in diameter only in exceptional cases, the characteristic feature of angiosperms is the flower. Flowers show remarkable variation in form and elaboration, and provide the most trustworthy external characteristics for establishing relationships among angiosperm species, the function of the flower is to ensure fertilization of the ovule and development of fruit containing seeds. The floral apparatus may arise terminally on a shoot or from the axil of a leaf, occasionally, as in violets, a flower arises singly in the axil of an ordinary foliage-leaf. There are two kinds of cells produced by flowers. Microspores, which divide to become pollen grains, are the male cells and are borne in the stamens. The female cells called megaspores, which divide to become the egg cell, are contained in the ovule. The flower may consist only of parts, as in willow. Usually, other structures are present and serve to protect the sporophylls, the individual members of these surrounding structures are known as sepals and petals. The outer series is usually green and leaf-like, and functions to protect the rest of the flower, the inner series is, in general, white or brightly colored, and is more delicate in structure. It functions to attract insect or bird pollinators, attraction is effected by color, scent, and nectar, which may be secreted in some part of the flower
5.
Pollen
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Pollen is a fine to coarse powdery substance comprising pollen grains which are male microgametophytes of seed plants, which produce male gametes. If pollen lands on a compatible pistil or female cone, it germinates, individual pollen grains are small enough to require magnification to see detail. The study of pollen is called palynology and is useful in paleoecology, paleontology, archaeology. Pollen in plants is used for transferring haploid male genetic material from the anther of a flower to the stigma of another in cross-pollination. In a case of self-pollination, this takes place from the anther of a flower to the stigma of the same flower. Pollen itself is not the male gamete, each pollen grain contains vegetative cells and a generative cell. In flowering plants the vegetative tube cell produces the pollen tube, pollen is produced in the microsporangia in the male cone of a conifer or other gymnosperm or in the anthers of an angiosperm flower. Pollen grains come in a variety of shapes, sizes. Pollen grains of pines, firs, and spruces are winged, the smallest pollen grain, that of the forget-me-not, is around 6 µm in diameter. Wind-borne pollen grains can be as large as about 90–100 µm, in angiosperms, during flower development the anther is composed of a mass of cells that appear undifferentiated, except for a partially differentiated dermis. As the flower develops, four groups of cells form within the anther. The fertile sporogenous cells are surrounded by layers of cells that grow into the wall of the pollen sac. Some of the cells grow into nutritive cells that supply nutrition for the microspores that form by meiotic division from the sporogenous cells, in a process called microsporogenesis, four haploid microspores are produced from each diploid sporogenous cell, after meiotic division. After the formation of the four microspores, which are contained by callose walls, the exine is what is preserved in the fossil record. Two basic types of microsporogenesis are recognised, simultaneous and successive, in simultaneous microsporogenesis meiotic steps I and II are completed prior to cytokinesis, whereas in successive microsporogenesis cytokinesis follows. While there may be a continuum with intermediate forms, the type of microsporogenesis has systematic significance, the predominant form amongst the monocots is successive, but there are important exceptions. During microgametogenesis, the unicellular microspores undergo mitosis and develop into mature microgametophytes containing the gametes, in some flowering plants, germination of the pollen grain may begin even before it leaves the microsporangium, with the generative cell forming the two sperm cells. Except in the case of submerged aquatic plants, the mature pollen grain has a double wall
6.
Conifer cone
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A cone is an organ on plants in the division Pinophyta that contains the reproductive structures The familiar woody cone is the female cone, which produces seeds. The male cones, which produce pollen, are usually herbaceous, the name cone derives from the fact that the shape in some species resembles a geometric cone. The individual plates of a cone are known as scales, the male cone is structurally similar across all conifers, differing only in small ways from species to species. Extending out from an axis are microsporophylls. Under each microsporophyll is one or several microsporangia, the female cone contains ovules which, when fertilized by pollen, become seeds. The female cone structure varies more markedly between the different conifer families, and is crucial for the identification of many species of conifers. The members of the family have cones that are imbricate. The scales are arranged in fibonacci number ratios. The female cone has two types of scale, the scales, derived from a modified leaf, and the seed scales, one subtended by each bract scale. On the upper-side base of each seed scale are two ovules that develop into seeds after fertilization by pollen grains. The bract scales develop first, and are conspicuous at the time of pollination, the scales open temporarily to receive gametophytes, then close during fertilization and maturation, and then re-open again at maturity to allow the seed to escape. Maturation takes 6–8 months from pollination in most Pinaceae genera, but 12 months in cedars, the cones open either by the seed scales flexing back when they dry out, or by the cones disintegrating with the seed scales falling off. The cones are conic, cylindrical or ovoid, and small to large, from 2–60 cm long. After ripening, the opening of non-serotinous pine cones is associated with their moisture content—cones are open when dry and this assures that the small, wind disseminated seeds will be dispersed during relatively dry weather, and thus, the distance traveled from the parent tree will be enhanced. A pine cone will go through cycles of opening and closing during its life span. This process occurs with older cones while attached to branches and even after the cones have fallen to the forest floor. The condition of fallen pine cones is an indication of the forest floors moisture content. Closed cones indicate damp conditions while open cones indicate the forest floor is dry, members of the Araucariaceae have the bract and seed scales fully fused, and have only one ovule on each scale
7.
Mammal
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Mammals are any vertebrates within the class Mammalia, a clade of endothermic amniotes distinguished from reptiles by the possession of a neocortex, hair, three middle ear bones and mammary glands. All female mammals nurse their young with milk, secreted from the mammary glands, Mammals include the largest animals on the planet, the great whales. The basic body type is a quadruped, but some mammals are adapted for life at sea, in the air, in trees. The largest group of mammals, the placentals, have a placenta, Mammals range in size from the 30–40 mm bumblebee bat to the 30-meter blue whale. With the exception of the five species of monotreme, all modern mammals give birth to live young, most mammals, including the six most species-rich orders, belong to the placental group. The largest orders are the rodents, bats and Soricomorpha, the next three biggest orders, depending on the biological classification scheme used, are the Primates, the Cetartiodactyla, and the Carnivora. Living mammals are divided into the Yinotheria and Theriiformes There are around 5450 species of mammal, in some classifications, extant mammals are divided into two subclasses, the Prototheria, that is, the order Monotremata, and the Theria, or the infraclasses Metatheria and Eutheria. The marsupials constitute the group of the Metatheria, and include all living metatherians as well as many extinct ones. Much of the changes reflect the advances of cladistic analysis and molecular genetics, findings from molecular genetics, for example, have prompted adopting new groups, such as the Afrotheria, and abandoning traditional groups, such as the Insectivora. The mammals represent the only living Synapsida, which together with the Sauropsida form the Amniota clade, the early synapsid mammalian ancestors were sphenacodont pelycosaurs, a group that produced the non-mammalian Dimetrodon. At the end of the Carboniferous period, this group diverged from the line that led to todays reptiles. Some mammals are intelligent, with some possessing large brains, self-awareness, Mammals can communicate and vocalize in several different ways, including the production of ultrasound, scent-marking, alarm signals, singing, and echolocation. Mammals can organize themselves into fission-fusion societies, harems, and hierarchies, most mammals are polygynous, but some can be monogamous or polyandrous. They provided, and continue to provide, power for transport and agriculture, as well as commodities such as meat, dairy products, wool. Mammals are hunted or raced for sport, and are used as model organisms in science, Mammals have been depicted in art since Palaeolithic times, and appear in literature, film, mythology, and religion. Defaunation of mammals is primarily driven by anthropogenic factors, such as poaching and habitat destruction, Mammal classification has been through several iterations since Carl Linnaeus initially defined the class. No classification system is accepted, McKenna & Bell and Wilson & Reader provide useful recent compendiums. Though field work gradually made Simpsons classification outdated, it remains the closest thing to a classification of mammals
8.
DNA
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Deoxyribonucleic acid is a molecule that carries the genetic instructions used in the growth, development, functioning and reproduction of all known living organisms and many viruses. DNA and RNA are nucleic acids, alongside proteins, lipids and complex carbohydrates, most DNA molecules consist of two biopolymer strands coiled around each other to form a double helix. The two DNA strands are termed polynucleotides since they are composed of simpler units called nucleotides. Each nucleotide is composed of one of four nitrogen-containing nucleobases—cytosine, guanine, adenine, or thymine —a sugar called deoxyribose, and a phosphate group. The nucleotides are joined to one another in a chain by covalent bonds between the sugar of one nucleotide and the phosphate of the next, resulting in an alternating sugar-phosphate backbone. The nitrogenous bases of the two polynucleotide strands are bound together, according to base pairing rules, with hydrogen bonds to make double-stranded DNA. The total amount of related DNA base pairs on Earth is estimated at 5.0 x 1037, in comparison the total mass of the biosphere has been estimated to be as much as 4 trillion tons of carbon. The DNA backbone is resistant to cleavage, and both strands of the double-stranded structure store the same biological information and this information is replicated as and when the two strands separate. A large part of DNA is non-coding, meaning that these sections do not serve as patterns for protein sequences, the two strands of DNA run in opposite directions to each other and are thus antiparallel. Attached to each sugar is one of four types of nucleobases and it is the sequence of these four nucleobases along the backbone that encodes biological information. RNA strands are created using DNA strands as a template in a process called transcription, under the genetic code, these RNA strands are translated to specify the sequence of amino acids within proteins in a process called translation. Within eukaryotic cells DNA is organized into structures called chromosomes. During cell division these chromosomes are duplicated in the process of DNA replication, eukaryotic organisms store most of their DNA inside the cell nucleus and some of their DNA in organelles, such as mitochondria or chloroplasts. In contrast prokaryotes store their DNA only in the cytoplasm, within the eukaryotic chromosomes, chromatin proteins such as histones compact and organize DNA. These compact structures guide the interactions between DNA and other proteins, helping control which parts of the DNA are transcribed, DNA was first isolated by Friedrich Miescher in 1869. DNA is used by researchers as a tool to explore physical laws and theories, such as the ergodic theorem. The unique material properties of DNA have made it an attractive molecule for material scientists and engineers interested in micro-, among notable advances in this field are DNA origami and DNA-based hybrid materials. DNA is a polymer made from repeating units called nucleotides
9.
Labia
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The labia are part of the female genitalia, they are the major externally visible portions of the vulva. In humans, there are two pairs of labia, the labia majora are larger and fattier, while the labia minora are folds of skin between the outer labia, the labia surround and protect the clitoris and the openings of the vagina and the urethra. Labium is a Latin-derived term meaning lip, labium and its derivatives are used to describe any lip-like structure, but in the English language, labium often specifically refers to parts of the vulva. The labia majora often have an appearance, and are thicker towards the anterior. The anterior junction of the labia majora is called the anterior commissure, to the posterior, the labia majora join at the posterior commissure, which is above the perineum and below the frenulum of the labia minora. The labia minora, also called inner labia or inner lips, are two soft folds of fat-free, hairless skin between the labia majora and they enclose and protect the vulvar vestibule, urethra and vagina. The upper portion of each labium minora splits to join both the clitoral glans, and the clitoral hood. The labia minora meet posterially at the frenulum of the labia minora, the fourchette is more prominent in younger women, and often recedes after sexual activity and childbirth. The outer surface of the labia majora is pigmented skin, the inner surface of the labia majora is smooth, hairless skin, which resembles a mucous membrane, and is only visible when the labia majora and labia minora are drawn apart. Both the inner and outer surfaces of the labia majora contain sebaceous glands, apocrine sweat glands, the labia majora have fewer superficial nerve endings than the rest of the vulva, but the skin is highly vascularized. The internal surface of the labia minora is a thin moist skin and they contain many sebaceous glands, and occasionally have eccrine sweat glands. The labia minora have many nerve endings, and have a core of erectile tissue. The color, size, length and shape of the labia can vary extensively from woman to woman. In some women the labia minora are almost non-existent, and in others they can be fleshy and they can range in color from a light pink to brownish black, and texturally can vary between smooth and very rugose. The biological sex of an individual is determined at conception, which is the moment a sperm fertilizes an ovum, the chromosome type contained in the sperm determines the sex of the zygote. A Y chromosome results in a male, and an X chromosome results in a female, a male zygote will later grow into an embryo and form testes, which produce androgens, usually causing male genitals to be formed. Female genitals will usually be formed in the absence of significant androgen exposure, the genitals begin to develop after approximately 4 to 6 weeks of gestation. Initially, the external genitals develop the way regardless of the sex of the embryo
10.
Green algae
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The green algae are a large, informal grouping of algae consisting of the Chlorophyte and Charophyte algae, which are now placed in separate divisions. The land plants, or Embryophytes, are thought to have emerged from the Charophytes, therefore, cladistically, Embryophytes belong to green algae as well. However, as the Embryophytes are traditionally classified as neither algae nor green algae, the clade that includes both green algae and embryophytes is monophyletic and is referred to as the clade Viridiplantae and as the kingdom Plantae. The green algae include unicellular and colonial flagellates, most with two flagella per cell, as well as various colonial, coccoid and filamentous forms, and macroscopic, in the Charales, the closest relatives of higher plants, full cellular differentiation of tissues occurs. There are about 8,000 species of green algae, many species live most of their lives as single cells, while other species form coenobia, long filaments, or highly differentiated macroscopic seaweeds. A few other organisms rely on green algae to conduct photosynthesis for them, the chloroplasts in euglenids and chlorarachniophytes were acquired from ingested green algae, and in the latter retain a nucleomorph. Green algae are also found symbiotically in the ciliate Paramecium, and in Hydra viridissima, some species of green algae, particularly of genera Trebouxia of the class Trebouxiophyceae and Trentepohlia, can be found in symbiotic associations with fungi to form lichens. In general the species that partner in lichens cannot live on their own. Trentepohlia is a green alga that can live independently on humid soil. Green algae have chloroplasts that contain chlorophyll a and b, giving them a green color, as well as the accessory pigments beta carotene and xanthophylls. The cell walls of green algae usually contain cellulose, and they store carbohydrate in the form of starch, all green algae have mitochondria with flat cristae. When present, paired flagella are used to move the cell and they are anchored by a cross-shaped system of microtubules and fibrous strands. Flagella are only present in the male gametes of charophytes and are absent from the gametes of Pinophyta. Members of the class Chlorophyceae undergo closed mitosis in the most common form of division among the green algae. By contrast, charophyte green algae and land plants undergo open mitosis without centrioles, instead, a raft of microtubules, the phragmoplast, is formed from the mitotic spindle and cell division involves the use of this phragmoplast in the production of a cell plate. This primary endosymbiosis event gave rise to three autotrophic clades with primary plastids, the plants, the red algae and the glaucophytes. Green algae are classified with their embryophyte descendants in the green plant clade Viridiplantae. Viridiplantae, together with red algae and glaucophyte algae, form the supergroup Primoplantae, the Viridiplantae diverged into two clades
11.
Chara (alga)
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Chara is a genus of charophyte green algae in the family Characeae. They are multicellular and superficially resemble land plants because of stem-like and leaf-like structures and they are found in fresh water, particularly in limestone areas throughout the northern temperate zone, where they grow submerged, attached to the muddy bottom. They prefer less oxygenated and hard water and are not found in waters where mosquito larvae are present and they are covered with calcium carbonate deposits and are commonly known as stoneworts. Cyanobacteria have been growing as epiphytes on the surfaces of Chara, where they may be involved in fixing nitrogen. The branching system of Chara species is complex with branches derived from cells which cut off segments at the base to form nodal and internodal cells alternately. The main axes bear whorls of branches in a resemblance to Equisetum. They are typically anchored to the substrate by means of branching underground rhizoids. Chara plants are rough to the touch because of deposited calcium salts on the cell wall, the metabolic processes associated with this deposition often give Chara plants a distinctive and unpleasant smell of hydrogen sulfide. The plant body is a gametophyte and it consists of a main axis, dimorphic branches, rhizoids and stipulodes. Vegetative reproduction takes place by tubers, amylum stars and secondary protonema, the fructifications for sexual reproduction are globule or antheridium and nucule or archegonium. The sex organs are multicellular and jacketed, the antheridia and archegonia may occur on separate plants, together on the same plant or separately on the same plant. After fertilization, the zygote develops into an oospore, Chara has a cosmopolitan distribution, from 69 degrees north in northern Norway to about 49 degrees south in Kerguelen Islands. About 27 species are found in India, there are about 40 species of Chara in Europe, where they are commonly found in the specific habitat-type designated as H3140 in the Natura 2000 plans of the European Union. Although this habitat is all across Europe, it is threatened. The Netherlands are home to 20 species of Chara, growing in lakes, the H3140 habitats in the Netherlands, are considered important in the overall preservation efforts and therefore also for the Chara species in general. Here, many former Chara habitats have been polluted by either toxins or excessive amounts of nutrients, Chara is found growing in the very clean hard water lakes of Thy National Park like Nors Sø for example. Tissø lake is also a H3140 habitat and contains Chara species, Chara rudis Leonhardii and Nitella flexilis C. Agardh
