← Back to the activity

Year 9 Science — Reproduction: how life continues

Tell asexual reproduction from sexual, name the parts of a flower and follow pollen through to a seed, and describe fertilisation and the reproductive cycle in animals and humans.

Name: ________________________

Before you start

The parts of a flower, each one named.

123456
  1. 1. The green flap at the base — a sepal
  2. 2. The broad flap sweeping out to the side — a petal
  3. 3. The small sac on the end of the slender stalk — the anther of a stamen
  4. 4. The flattened cap on top of the central column — the stigma
  5. 5. The thin central column — the style
  6. 6. The rounded swelling at the base of the column — the ovary

Sepals and petals are the two outer whorls. The stamen is the male part and the pistil — stigma, style and ovary together — is the female one.

  1. 1.What is a fertilised egg called? Give the one word.

  2. 2.How many parts does a complete flower have? Answer with a number.

  3. 3.A gardener grows twenty plants from cuttings of one rose bush. How do the new plants compare with the parent?

    • a) They are identical to each other but different from the parent
    • b) They vary from it, because cuttings mix genetic material from two parents
    • c) They are genetically identical to it, because one parent and mitosis were involved
    • d) They vary, because meiosis takes place when a cutting roots

  4. 4.What is the one-word name for the transfer of pollen grains from a stamen to a stigma?

  5. 5.Match each part of a flower to what it does.

    • Anther
    • Stigma
    • Style
    • Ovary
    • Sepal
    • Receives the pollen
    • Protects the flower while it is in bud
    • Holds the ovules and becomes the fruit
    • Connects the stigma down to the ovary
    • Produces the pollen grains

  6. 6.Sort each case by the kind of reproduction it is.

    Groups: Asexual reproduction · Sexual reproduction

    • A Bryophyllum leaf sprouting tiny plantlets
    • A gardener rooting a sugarcane stem cutting
    • A male gamete from a pollen grain fusing with an egg cell
    • A frog releasing eggs into water for a male to fertilise
    • A potato sprouting new plants from its underground stem

  7. 7.A frog lays thousands of eggs in a pond while a bird lays a handful in a nest. What does the chapter say about the two strategies?

    • a) The frog's fertilisation is external and survival is low; the bird's is internal and survival is better
    • b) Survival is the same in both; the frog simply lays more
    • c) The frog's fertilisation is internal and the bird's external
    • d) Both fertilise internally, and the difference lies in nest-building

  8. 8.Put the journey from pollination to seed in order, starting from Pollen lands on a stigma it is compatible with.

    • The male gamete travels down the tube to the ovule
    • Pollen lands on a stigma it is compatible with
    • The ovule becomes a seed while the ovary swells into a fruit
    • The pollen grain grows a pollen tube down through the style
    • It fuses with the egg cell, and the fertilised egg is a zygote

Answer key — Year 9 Science — Reproduction: how life continues

  1. 1. zygote
  2. 2. 4
  3. 3. c) They are genetically identical to it, because one parent and mitosis were involved
  4. 4. pollination
  5. 5. Anther → Produces the pollen grains; Stigma → Receives the pollen; Style → Connects the stigma down to the ovary; Ovary → Holds the ovules and becomes the fruit; Sepal → Protects the flower while it is in bud
  6. 6. A potato sprouting new plants from its underground stem → Asexual reproduction; A Bryophyllum leaf sprouting tiny plantlets → Asexual reproduction; A gardener rooting a sugarcane stem cutting → Asexual reproduction; A male gamete from a pollen grain fusing with an egg cell → Sexual reproduction; A frog releasing eggs into water for a male to fertilise → Sexual reproduction
  7. 7. a) The frog's fertilisation is external and survival is low; the bird's is internal and survival is better
  8. 8. 1. Pollen lands on a stigma it is compatible with 2. The pollen grain grows a pollen tube down through the style 3. The male gamete travels down the tube to the ovule 4. It fuses with the egg cell, and the fertilised egg is a zygote 5. The ovule becomes a seed while the ovary swells into a fruit