Alternation of Generations

Question	Answer
Alternation of Generations	Image: alternationgeneration (image/jpg)
Alternation of Generations (in words)	The phases a plant goes through during reproduction. Plants alternate between a haploid phase (spores to gametophyte to gamete) and a diploid phase (zygote to sporophyte).
gamete	a type of cell organisms make to reproduce sexually (in humans it's the sperm or ovum/egg) this cell is haploid, then joins with another gamete to make the zygote (diploid)
zygote	the cell created when two gametes join it is diploid
haploid	this describes a cell with only half the normal number of chromosomes when organisms reproduce sexually, they create haploid cells (in humans, sperm cells or ovum/egg cells)
diploid	This describes a cell that has a full set of chromosomes. Most cells in an organism are diploid. The zygote is the first diploid cell of a new organism (a baby starts as a zygote).
gametophyte	The haploid multicellular stage during the alternation of generations in plants. This is the plant that produces the gamete.
sporophyte	The diploid multicellular stage during the alternation of generations. In most plants, when you think of the plant, you are thinking of the sporophyte. (In flowering plants, the sporophyte is everything except the pollen and embryo sac - like whole trees).
spore	basically seeds haploid and unicellular

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	Created by MsHeltonReads about 10 years ago