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LIFE SPAN REGULATORS. “Our results suggest that the worm and human longevity networks are functionally relevant and possess a high predictive power for identifying new longevity regulators.” http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0048282 View in LinkedIn

GENES AND LIFE SPAN. “Curran and Ruvkun explored this overlooked gene set by inactivating essential genes postdevelopmentally, revealing 64 genes required for development that extend lifespan when inactivated during adulthood. Nevertheless, many important longevity genes likely remain unidentified.” http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0048282 View in LinkedIn

DARWINIAN LIFE SPAN. “We interpret life span as an inherent property of self-organizing systems that, accordingly, maintain species-specific limits for the entire complex of fitness traits. We conclude that Darwinian approaches provide unique opportunities to discover the biological bases of longevity as well as devise individual specific medical or other interventions toward improving health span.” http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-1-4939-2404-2_1 View in LinkedIn

COMPOSITE TRAIT. “As an important life-history trait, longevity shows ontogenetic relationships with other complex traits, and hence may be viewed as a composite trait. Factors that influence the origin and maintenance of diversity of life are ultimately governed by Darwinian processes.” http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-1-4939-2404-2_1 View in LinkedIn

“SENESCENCE, as a time-dependent developmental process, affects all organisms at every stage in their development and growth. During this process, genetic, epigenetic and environmental factors are known to introduce a wide range of variation for longevity among individuals.” https://lnkd.in/dT5Aavw View in LinkedIn

SO ENDS this snippet into the complicated reproductive strategies of plants. Plants evolved from aquatic single celled algae, and transitioned onto dry land, where sperm needed protection against drying during dispersal, and thus pollen was born. Dry land was also a harsher environment, so a quiescent protected stage in the life cycle was born. And even within plants as a group, enormous reproductive variation is seen. View in LinkedIn

VASCULAR PLANTS. “Bryophytes have gametophyte-dominated life cycles; seedless vascular plants have sporophyte-dominated life cycles; seed plants have very protected gametophytes that obtain their nutrition from their parents, and are even more reduced than seedless vascular plants; whereas gametophytes from seedless vascular plants are free living and have to fend for themselves.” https://lnkd.in/dGN5WNg View in LinkedIn

SPOROPHYTE DOMINANCE POPULAR. “95% of all plants have a dominant sporophyte generation in their life cycle. Pollen, produced by the sporophyte, allowed seed plants to adapt to dry land.” https://lnkd.in/dGN5WNg View in LinkedIn

SPONGE LONGEVITY GENE CLONED. "One gene, SDLAGL, was identified in the marine sponge Suberites domuncula whose deduced polypeptide showed high sequence similarity to the longevity assurance genes from other Metazoa." https://lnkd.in/ekmRrmm View in LinkedIn

BIG IMPACT SYSTEM. "If you have an alien species or fantasy race and you want to give them a funky reproductive characteristic (that could easily have massive effects on the development of their society), alternation of generations could be one way to go." https://www.reddit.com/r/worldbuilding/comments/3iq3xw/worldbuilding_biology_lesson_alternation_of/ View in LinkedIn