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Microspores are land plant spores that develop into male gametophytes, whereas megaspores develop into female gametophytes. [1] The male gametophyte gives rise to sperm cells, which are used for fertilization of an egg cell to form a zygote .
Exosporic gametophytes can either be bisexual, capable of producing both sperm and eggs in the same thallus , or specialized into separate male and female organisms (dioicous). In heterosporous vascular plants (plants that produce both microspores and megaspores), the gametophytes develop endosporically (within the spore wall).
In exosporic species, the smaller spores germinate into free-living male gametophytes and the larger spores germinate into free-living female gametophytes. In endosporic species, the gametophytes of both sexes are very highly reduced and contained within the spore wall. The microspores of both exosporic and endosporic species are free-sporing ...
The pollen grains, which are the male gametophytes, are reduced to only a few cells (just three cells in many cases). Here the notion of two generations is less obvious; as Bateman & Dimichele say "sporophyte and gametophyte effectively function as a single organism". [8] The alternative term 'alternation of phases' may then be more appropriate ...
A microsporangium (pl. microsporangia) is a sporangium that produces microspores that give rise to male gametophytes when they germinate. Microsporangia occur in all vascular plants that have heterosporic life cycles, such as seed plants, spike mosses and the aquatic fern genus Azolla.
The development of the embryo and gametophytes is called embryology. The study of pollens which persist in soil for many years is called palynology. Reproduction occurs when male and female gametophytes interact. This generally requires an external agent such as wind or insects to carry the pollen from the stamen to the vicinity of the ovule.
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Microgametogenesis is the process in plant reproduction where a microgametophyte develops in a pollen grain to the three-celled stage of its development. In flowering plants it occurs with a microspore mother cell inside the anther of the plant.