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The second more recent hypothesis is that spores were an early predecessor of land plants and formed during errors in the meiosis of algae, a hypothesized early ancestor of land plants. [18] Whether spores arose before or after land plants, their contributions to topics in fields like paleontology and plant phylogenetics have been useful. [18]
Plant spores are most obvious in the reproduction of ferns and mosses. However, they also exist in flowering plants where they develop hidden inside the flower. For example, the pollen grains of flowering plants develop out of microspores produced in the anthers. Reproductive spores grow into multicellular haploid individuals or sporelings.
The sporophyte produces spores (hence the name) by meiosis, a process also known as "reduction division" that reduces the number of chromosomes in each spore mother cell by half. The resulting meiospores develop into a gametophyte. Both the spores and the resulting gametophyte are haploid, meaning they only have one set of chromosomes.
Flowering plants contain microsporangia in the anthers of stamens (typically four microsporangia per anther) and megasporangia inside ovules inside ovaries. In all seed plants, spores are produced by meiosis and develop into gametophytes while still inside the sporangium. The microspores become microgametophytes (pollen).
A pteridophyte is a vascular plant (with xylem and phloem) that reproduces by means of spores. Because pteridophytes produce neither flowers nor seeds, they are sometimes referred to as "cryptogams", meaning that their means of reproduction is hidden. They are also the ancestors of the plants we see today.
One of the outcomes of plant reproduction is the generation of seeds, spores, and fruits [13] that allow plants to move to new locations or new habitats. [14] Plants do not have nervous systems or any will for their actions. Even so, scientists are able to observe mechanisms that help their offspring thrive as they grow.
Heterospory evolved due to natural selection that favoured an increase in propagule size compared with the smaller spores of homosporous plants. [2] Heterosporous plants, similar to anisosporic plants [clarification needed], produce two different sized spores in separate sporangia that develop into separate male and female gametophytes.
In heterosporous seedless vascular plants, modified leaves called microsporophylls bear microsporangia containing many microsporocytes that undergo meiosis, each producing four microspores. Each microspore may develop into a male gametophyte consisting of a somewhat spherical antheridium within the microspore wall.