What is the difference between heterothallic and homothallic? I\'m having a lot

Question

What is the difference between heterothallic and homothallic? I'm having a lot trouble differentiating between heterothallic and homothallic plants/life cycles. Is it because the male and female gameteophytes have different size/shapes? Also, I want to make sure I understand heterosporous and homosporous, please let me know if I'm wrong. I think heterosporous means that there are two types of sporangia (microsporangiuma and megasporangium), while homosporous means there's only one bisexual sporangium. I've already tried Google and Wikipedia which only made me more confused, so I'd really appreciate it if someone could explain these terms clearly.

Explanation / Answer

Homothallic refers to the possession, within a single organism, of the resources to reproduce sexually[1] i. e having male and female reproductive structures on the same thallus. The opposite sexual functions are performed by different cells of a single mycelium.

Heterothallic species have sexes that reside in different individuals. The term is applied particularly to distinguish heterothallic fungi, which require two compatible partners to produce sexual spores, from homothallic ones, which are capable of sexual reproduction from a single organism.

heterosporous and homosporous

Up to this point all of the terrestrial plant life cycles discussed have had a major feature in common: homospory. Here, the sporophyte produces a single type of sporangium, which in turn produces a single type of spore mother cell. Each SMC undergoes meiosis, resulting in 4 haploid spores. All spores thus produced are capable of growing into mature, multicellular gametophytes. These gametophytes may produce both antheridia and archegonia.An alternative scheme is seen in:

(1) all seed plants
(2) a few ferns
(3) two extant genera of Lycophyta (Selaginella and Isoetes)

In these plants, a sporophyte produces two types of sporangia: micro- and megasporangia. The development and products of these sporangia are similar to those of homosporous plants, but with some important differences. Microsporangia contain microspore mother cells, each of which undergoes meiosis, forming microspores. Microspores grow into microgametophytes that possess antheridia. Megasporangia contain megaspore mother cells, each of which undergoes meiosis, forming megaspores. Megaspores grow into megagametophytes with archegonia.

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