AP BIOLOGY

Detailed explanation-1: -Mosses and liverworts are some of the many organisms found in Arches that most people do not associate with deserts. Mosses can tolerate long periods of complete dehydration and occupy a variety of habitats in the park, including exposed rocks, biological soil crusts, riparian areas and sometimes trees.

Detailed explanation-2: -This is done by the moss producing spores, which grow into gametophytes. These then produce eggs or sperm, and finally the eggs and sperm fuse to create a zygote for a new plant. There are both male and female mosses, although some have both types of sex organs within the same plant.

Detailed explanation-3: -Physical Characteristics The stems are weak and free standing, and are usually greenish to brown colored. It reproduces by spores (since no seeds are found). The sporophytes are short lived and have long, unbranched stems. They are mostly dependent on the gametophyte for water and nutrition.

Detailed explanation-4: -The sporophyte generation has three parts, the foot, the seta, which is the small, usually brown slender stalk (see illustration at right) that sticks up beyond the green, leafy moss, and the capsule, which is a bulb at the tip of the seta. The capsule contains the sporangium, which contains the spores.