Microbial Life
These three basic bacterial shapes are spherical, spiral, and rod-shaped.
What are cocci, spirilla, and bacilli?
This whip-like structure helps certain protists move through their environment.
What is a flagellum?
These thread-like structures are the basic building blocks of fungi.
What are hyphae?
This is the haploid, gamete-producing stage in a plant's life cycle.
What is a gametophyte?
This plant structure contains a tiny, developing plant and food supply.
What is a seed?
These heat-loving microbes thrive in environments like hot springs and hydrothermal vents.
What are thermophiles?
These tiny hair-like structures move rhythmically to help protists swim.
What are cilia?
This tangled mass of hyphae forms the main body of a fungus.
What is a mycelium?
This diploid stage produces spores through meiosis.
What is a sporophyte?
This tough outer layer protects a seed from damage and drying out.
What is a seed coat?
These microorganisms prefer high-salt environments like the Dead Sea.
What are halophiles?
This type of movement involves "false feet" formed by extensions of the cell membrane.
What is pseudopodia?
These sac-like structures in certain fungi produce spores.
What are asci?
This term describes the alternation between diploid and haploid stages in a plant’s life cycle.
What is alternation of generations?
This powdery substance contains the male gametes of seed plants.
What is pollen?
These microbes produce methane and are often found in oxygen-free environments like swamps.
What are methanophiles?
This flexible outer covering gives shape and protection to some protists.
What is a pellicle?
These club-shaped structures on mushrooms produce spores.
What are basidia?
This part of a seed plant becomes the seed after fertilization.
What is the ovule?
This flower part includes the stigma, style, and ovary.
What is the pistil?
This acronym refers to the hypothetical most recent common ancestor of all current life on Earth.
What is LUCA (Last Universal Common Ancestor)?
In protists, these small sacs assist in gas exchange—not to be confused with the structures in human lungs.
What are alveoli?
These structures help divide fungal cells and are unique to certain fungi.
What are clamp connections?
This historical belief held that a plant's appearance could reveal its medicinal use.
What is the Doctrine of Signatures?
These sticky clusters of pollen travel together and stick to pollinators.
What are pollinia?