#9...anabolic #10...seed dispersal #11...succession #12... haploid

 growing on this rock is moss, which has many reactions within that are anabolic(big idea 2 #2). Anabolic pathways are any that construct molecules from smaller units which requires energy(in this case from photosynthisis). Moss is an autotroph and can produce much of its own food through anabolic pathways. It is also a nonvascular plant and has an uncouth root system unlike those common in the plant world. We saw the specifics of anabolic pathways when we studdied photosynthisis and saw catabolic(opposite) with a look at glycolysis.

 

The above is all that remains of a fairly primitive method of seed dispersal(big idea 3 # 20). This plant spreads its seeds by wind in a similar way to dandelions with light seeds and a feathery papus to allow the seed to float on the wind, sometimes for many miles. A pod like this would have held hundreds of seeds because seeds spread in this way have a very small chance of landing in a favorable spot for germination.

This log is all that remains of a mid-sized tree that was burned down and is now covered with molds and fungi(decomposers). While it did not work out well for this tree, this is an essential step in ecological succession(big idea 4 #20) in which an ecosystem or community changes over time, usually due to a natural disaster. One organism will make very fertile soil for another generation as well as give the opportunity to new species to grow and flourish as there is initially little to no competition for resources and light.

This small plant is a gametophyte and therefore has a haploid(big idea 3 # 6) chromosome set, meaning only half of its parent organism. Gametophytes practice alternation of genetics, meaning that every other generation there is an organism with only half the chromosome # of its parent. It will undergo mitosis to produce gametes that will then form a zygote, the main purpose of which is to create greater genetic diversity of offspring and to spread these new offspring twice as far downwind as normal plants.