AP BIOLOGY

Detailed explanation-1: -alternation of generations, also called metagenesis or heterogenesis, in biology, the alternation of a sexual phase and an asexual phase in the life cycle of an organism. The two phases, or generations, are often morphologically, and sometimes chromosomally, distinct.

Detailed explanation-2: -Alternation of generations means that plants alternate between two different life stages, or generations, in their life cycle; a haploid stage called gametophyte and a diploid stage called sporophyte.

Detailed explanation-3: -Kelp are an example of a brown alga with a heteromorphic alternation of generations. Species from the genus Laminaria have a large sporophytic thallus that produces haploid spores which germinate to produce free-living microscopic male and female gametophytes.

Detailed explanation-4: -A haploid cell has only one set of chromosomes. The haploid generation gives birth to plants with diploid cells. This then creates a generation of haploid plants, which again give rise to a generation of diploid plants.