Pollen Is Not Plant Sperm (It’s MUCH Weirder)

2025-03-07

[public] 89.2K views, 32.6K likes, dislikes audio only

Plant pollen is everywhere in springtime, but because it is so small, you probably don't know that what is making you sneeze is a living, breathing, mobile version of the plant that forms half of the it's entire bizarre life cycle.

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To learn more about this topic, start your googling with these keywords:

- Alternation of generations: a life cycle in plants where an organism alternates between two distinct multicellular stages.

- Gametophyte: the gamete-producing and usually haploid phase, producing the zygote from which the sporophyte arises. It is the dominant form in bryophytes.

- Pollination: the transfer of pollen to a stigma, ovule, flower, or plant to allow fertilization.

- Sporophyte: the asexual and usually diploid phase, producing spores from which the gametophyte arises. It is the dominant form in vascular plants, e.g. the frond of a fern.

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CREDITS

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Cameron Duke | Script Writer, Narrator and Director

Arcadi Garcia i Rius | Storyboard Artist

Sarah Berman | Illustration, Video Editing and Animation

Nathaniel Schroeder | Music

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Lizah van der Aart • Sarah Berman • Cameron Duke

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REFERENCES

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Gladish, Dan. “Plant Parts.” American Scientist, 6 Feb. 2017, www.americanscientist.org/article/plant-parts.

Horst, N. A., and R. Reski. “Alternation of Generations - Unravelling the Underlying Molecular Mechanism of a 165-Year-Old Botanical Observation.” Plant Biology, vol. 18, no. 4, 9 May 2016, pp. 549–551, https://doi.org/10.1111/plb.12468

Life Cycles: Meiosis and the Alternation of Generations.

Mora, Camilo, et al. “How Many Species Are There on Earth and in the Ocean?” PLoS Biology, vol. 9, no. 8, 23 Aug. 2011, p. e1001127

Urry, Lisa A, et al. Campbell Biology. 11th ed., New York Pearson, 2017.

Wilsen, Kathleen L., and Peter K. Hepler. “Sperm Delivery in Flowering Plants: The Control of Pollen Tube Growth.” BioScience, vol. 57, no. 10, 1 Nov. 2007, pp. 835–844, https://doi.org/10.1641/b571006