Chapter 32 Lecture Enrichment Ideas
Diagram the evolution of the different kinds of land plants, pointing out how each step is an adaptation to the land and how the plants might have moved in stages from green algae to plants living on dry land.
Most regions have some samples of horsetails or ground pine in local parks or rural areas. Use specimens or slides in class to aquaint students with organisms they may have seen but not recognized as a remnant of a primitive plant group.
Discuss why the seed plants have a reproductive advantage over plants that reproduce by releasing spores, with emphasis on the multicellular embryo, stored food, and seed coat as opposed to the single cell of the spore.
Describe the effects of the development of pollen on the evolutionary success of the seed plants, with emphasis on the advantage gained in having animals disperse pollen rather than the wind. Discuss the allergies many people have to pollen and how much energy must go into producing this pollen.
Have students stop to examine the products they are using in the classroom that are made from angiosperms: wooden desks, paper, etc. They will soon go to lunch or dinner and ingest more angiosperms.
Much has been made recently of singing to plants, etc. Point out the lack of nerves and muscles, and the inability of plants to respond to the environment except by growth, changes in turgor pressure, etc.
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