Moss Metagenesis Explanation (Complete) With Pictures
Moss Metagenesis – Plants have their own way of surviving in accordance with their habitat. Similarly, their way to reproduce to continue their offspring.
Each plant also undergoes a life cycle that is different for each individual. This also applies to mosses which undergo a life cycle in the form of their ability to change offspring, which is also known in biological terms as metagenesis.
Moss Metagenesis
Moss plants are plants that usually live in damp and wet areas or areas that are not exposed to sunlight.
Bryophyta or better known as mosses is the largest group of land plants, because it consists of more than 25,000 species.
All these different species of mosses are found in different parts of the world.
Moss plants can live in valleys and wet areas as well as in some extreme climates, namely climates that are quite warm and even cold climates.
This moss plant in cold conditions can withstand freezing in the snow without causing damage to the moss plant itself. Moss plants are generally green which means they have chlorophyll found in chloroplasts, and there are root fibers.
The size of the leaves of the moss plant itself is small and soft but a bit slimy. Not only that, moss plants also experience moss metagenesis or alternation of descendants which has become their life cycle. This is almost the same as the metagenesis experienced by ferns.
Metagenesis experienced by mosses occurs between the haploid phase (gametophyte) and the diploid phase (sporophyte).
Unlike ferns, the gametophyte phase in mosses tends to be more dominant than the sporophyte phase. The shape of the moss gametophyte is protonema or young moss, while the sporophyte form is a sporangium.
The process of moss metagenesis begins with the germination of spores, when the spores fall in a suitable place for their habitat, namely a damp and wet place. The spores will grow into prothallium (protonema).
Protonema growth is influenced by certain factors that cause protonema to fail to grow. However, there are still many protonema that have managed to grow into adult mosses.
In this phase, the moss plant will begin to form genital organs, namely the archegonia in the female genitalia and the antheridium in the male genitalia. Both will produce ovum in archegonium and spermatozoid in antheridium.
After the ovum is fertilized by a spermatozoon, it will produce a zygote. This zygote continues to develop and grows larger to form an embryo. The growth of the embryo continues to develop until it becomes a sporangium or sporophyte.
The sporophyte stage is the end of a moss life cycle, namely moss metagenesis. The sporophyte will form a sporongium (spore box) which contains spores.
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These spores will fall in a place that suits their habitat. After this, it continues to the next stage which is exactly the same as previously described, and will continue to repeat itself.
Difference Between Moss and Nail Metagenesis
Moss plants are actually almost similar to ferns, as well as in the process of metagenesis. Distinguishing between the two is not so difficult, the gametophyte phase in ferns tends to be shorter than in mosses.
On the other hand, the sporophyte phase of ferns is more dominant than that of mosses. In addition, metagenesis in mosses also undergoes alternation of offspring between generations, namely the sporophyte generation and gametophyte generation, and ferns do not experience it.
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Thus a brief explanation of the metagenesis of mosses that you should know. Hopefully this article can provide benefits and add insight for all of you.
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