Q.Differentiate haplontic and diplontic life cycle.

Bryophytes are the plant group in which the gametophyte (not the sporophyte) is the dominant, free-living phase of the life cycle.

All plants alternate between two multicellular phases: the haploid gametophyte, which produces gametes, and the diploid sporophyte, which produces spores. Which phase dominates (is larger, longer-lived, and photosynthetic) differs across plant groups:

• In Bryophytes, the green, leafy or thalloid plant body we see is the GAMETOPHYTE. The sporophyte is much smaller, often just a capsule on a stalk, and remains permanently attached to and nutritionally dependent on the gametophyte. …

Bryophytes are the only plant group in which the gametophyte generation is dominant (the main, photosynthetic, free-living plant body); in pteridophytes, gymnosperms, and angiosperms the sporophyte is dominant instead.

All plants show alternation of generations between a haploid gametophyte and a diploid sporophyte. The two phases differ in prominence across groups:

• Bryophytes (mosses, liverworts): the gametophyte (the green, leafy or thalloid plant body we recognise as "moss") is the dominant, independent, photosynthetic phase. The sporophyte is small, often not photosynthetic, and remains permanently attached to and nutritionally dependent on the gametophyte.
• Pteridophytes (ferns): the sporophyte (the fern plant with roots, stem, leaves) is the dominant phase; the gametophyte (prothallus) is small, short-lived, and independent. …