What Are Spores?
Spores are asexual production cells used by simple plants to reproduce. Their job is to catch the wind and float through the air until they find a surface they can land on and begin growing a new version of the plant. Since spores are very simple versions of plants, they do not require the same soil and sunlight requirements of more complicated sexual plants, and can grow in areas that would be inhospitable to most large plants.
Other People Are Reading
-
Definition
-
Spores are a type of haploid, a unique type of cell structure produced by certain kinds of plants as a means of reproduction. They are usually only one cell, designed to be released by the plant when they are fully grown. While more complex seeds use a variety of methods to break away from the parent plant and move into hospitable soil, spores almost solely float through the air to find places that will support new growth, although some also benefit from animals that brush against plants and carry spores along on their fur. The spores are produced by special structures called sporangium, and plants or plant parts that create them are called sporophytes.
Reproduction
-
Spores participate in a type of asexual reproduction, and have neither male nor female components. When a spore cell is created, it comes with all the genetic information of its parent plant and is essentially an embryonic copy. When the spore touches down on a surface and begins to grow, it produces a copy of itself, fertilizing itself so the spore can develop into an adult plant. While this usually creates a genetic copy of the parent organism, small mutations generally ensure the spore will not create a fully exact copy.
-
Pollen
-
Spores may at times be confused with pollen, which are similar organisms produced by flowering plants. Both are single-celled reproductive structures, and both have coatings that protect them from water and wind, but they are essentially different. Pollen is part of the sexual reproduction process, and carries male genetic information to flowers. Spores, on the other hand, occur in non-flowering plants, and reproduce asexually.
Plants
-
Spores are produced by both seedless vascular plants and non-vascular plants. The most common example of vascular plants creating spores is the fern, since all species of fern uses spores to reproduce. All fungi produce spores as well, along with mosses, liverworts and other nonvascular plant structures that have neither roots nor true leaves.
Creation
-
Similar to pollen, spores are created from a select number of fertile cells held in the sporangium and covered by a protective layer of inert cells. These fertile, or sporogenous cells eventually develop into mother spore cells. Each mother cell creates four separate spore cells. These spore cells are grouped together in capsules until they mature. The capsules then release the spores out into the air, usually on the bottom of leaves (in the case of ferns) or the tips of stalks (in fungi).
-
