In biology, a spore is a reproductive structure that is adapted for dispersal and surviving for extended periods of time in unfavorable conditions. Spores form part of the life cycles of many bacteria, plants, algae, fungi and some protozoans.[1] A chief difference between spores and seeds as dispersal units is that spores have very little stored food resources compared with seeds.
Spores are usually haploid and unicellular and are produced by meiosis in the sporangium by the sporophyte. Once conditions are favorable, the spore can develop into a new organism using mitotic division, producing a multicellular gametophyte, which eventually goes on to produce gametes.
Two gametes fuse to create a new sporophyte. This cycle is known as alternation of generations, but a better term is "biological life cycle", as there may be more than one phase and so it cannot be a direct alternation. Haploid spores produced by mitosis (known as mitospores) are used by many fungi for asexual reproduction.
Many ferns, especially those adapted to dry conditions, produce diploid spores. This form of asexual reproduction is called apogamy. It is a form of apomixis.
Spores are the units of asexual reproduction, because a single spore develops into a new organism. By contrast, gametes are the units of sexual reproduction, as two gametes need to fuse to create a new organism.
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The term spore derives from the ancient Greek word σπορα ("spora"), meaning a seed.
In common parlance, the difference between a "spore" and a "gamete" (both together called gonites) is that a spore will germinate and develop into a sporeling, while a gamete needs to combine with another gamete before developing further. However, the terms are somewhat interchangeable when referring to gametes.
A chief difference between spores and seeds as dispersal units is that spores have little food storage compared with seeds, and thus require more favorable conditions in order to successfully germinate. (This is not without its exceptions, however: many orchid seeds, although multicellular, are microscopic and lack endosperm, and spores of some fungi in the Glomeromycota commonly exceed 300 µm in diameter.)[2] Seeds, therefore, are more resistant to harsh conditions and require less energy to start mitosis. Spores are produced in large numbers to increase the chance of a spore surviving in a number of notable examples.
Spores can be classified in several ways such as:
In fungi and fungus-like organisms, spores are often classified by the structure in which meiosis and spore production occurs. Since fungi are often classified according to their spore-producing structures, these spores are often characteristic of a particular taxon of the fungi.
Spores can be differentiated by whether they can move or not.
Under high magnification, spores can be categorized as either monolete spores or trilete spores. In monolete spores, there is a single line on the spore indicating the axis on which the mother spore was split into four along a vertical axis. In trilete spores, all four spores share a common origin and are in contact with each other, so when they separate, each spore shows three lines radiating from a center pole.
Vascular plant spores are always haploid. Vascular plants are either homosporous (or isosporous) or heterosporous. Plants that are homosporous produce spores of the same size and type. Heterosporous plants, such as spikemosses, quillworts, and some aquatic ferns produce spores of two different sizes: the larger spore in effect functioning as a "female" spore and the smaller functioning as a "male".
Trilete spores, formed by the dissociation of a spore tetrad, are taken as the earliest evidence of life on land,[4] dating to the mid-Ordovician (early Llanvirn, ~).[5]

In fungi, both asexual and sexual spores or sporangiospores of many fungal species are actively dispersed by forcible ejection from their reproductive structures. This ejection ensures exit of the spores from the reproductive structures as well as travelling through the air over long distances. Many fungi thereby possess specialized mechanical and physiological mechanisms as well as spore-surface structures, such as hydrophobins, for spore ejection. These mechanisms include, for example, forcible discharge of ascospores enabled by the structure of the ascus and accumulation of osmolytes in the fluids of the ascus that lead to explosive discharge of the ascospores into the air.[6] The forcible discharge of single spores termed ballistospores involves formation of a small drop of water (Buller's drop), which upon contact with the spore leads to its projectile release with an initial acceleration of more than 10,000 g.[7] Other fungi rely on alternative mechanisms for spore release, such as external mechanical forces, exemplified by puffballs. Attracting insects, such as flies, to fruiting structures, by virtue of their having lively colours and a putrid odour, for dispersal of fungal spores is yet another strategy, most prominently used by the stinkhorns.
In the case of spore-shedding vascular plants such as ferns, wind distribution of very light spores provides great capacity for dispersal. Also, spores are less subject to animal predation than seeds because they contain almost no food reserve; however they are more subject to fungal and bacterial predation. Their chief advantage is that, of all forms of progeny, spores require the least energy and materials to produce.
In the spikemoss Selaginella lepidophylla, dispersal is achieved in part by an unusual type of diaspore, a tumbleweed.
![]() Microscopic view of dehisced fern sporangia (no spores are visible) |
![]() Microscopic view of Equisetum spores |
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Wikipedia de
Spore f. (genitive Spore, plural Sporen)
| Spore | |
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| Developer(s) | Maxis |
| Publisher(s) | Electronic Arts |
| Designer(s) | Will Wright |
| Engine | Modified EAGL engine |
| Latest version | 1.03.0000 |
| Release date(s) |
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| Genre(s) | Simulation, covers other genres |
| System(s) | Windows, Mac OS X, Direct2Drive, Steam |
| Players | 1 (Massively single-player) |
| Mode(s) | Single player |
| Rating(s) | |
| Media | DVD-Rom, download |
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| Website | http://www.spore.com |
| Expansion pack(s) | Creepy & Cute Galactic Adventures |
| Series | Spore |
Spore is a god game by Maxis and designed by Will Wright that allows the player to control the evolution of a species from its beginnings as a multicellular organism, through development as a sapient and social land-walking creature, to levels of interstellar exploration as a spacefaring culture. The game has drawn wide attention for its massive scope, and its use of open-ended gameplay and procedural generation.
Spore was released on September 4, 2008 in Australia, September 5 in Europe, and September 7 in North America. To promote the game, the Creature Creator portion was released separately as Spore Creature Creator. Two spin-offs were released around the same time as the main game: Spore Creatures for the Nintendo DS, and Spore Origins for the iPod, iPhone, and mobile phones. There is also a Wii spin-off called Spore Hero, released on October 6, 2009. An expansion pack was released recently called Spore: Galactic Adventures.
Spore allows players to create their universe by evolving a creature through five stages.
Spore is completely made of player-made creations. Whenever something is created, it's uploaded and downloaded by other players. This is happening all the time your online and playing Spore. What you can create includes.
editSpore series
Creature Creator · Spore (Creepy & Cute · Galactic Adventures) · Origins · Creatures · Hero · Hero Arena · Creature Keeper
 
| Portal: Simulations | |
Spore at Spore Wiki |
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| Spore | |
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| Developer(s) | Maxis |
| Publisher(s) | Electronic Arts |
| Designer(s) | Will Wright |
| Release date | September 5, 2008 (EU) September 7, 2008 (Everywhere Else) |
| Genre | Simulation |
| Mode(s) | Single player |
| Age rating(s) | ESRB: E10+ |
| Platform(s) | PC |
| Media | DVD |
| Credits | Soundtrack | Codes | Walkthrough | |
Spore is the new game from Gaming God Will Wright, best known as the creator of SimCity and The Sims. In Spore, players start off as an amoeba in some primordial soup and can eventually evolve into a full creature, then into a sentient species, finally taking to the stars and the entire galaxy.
Beyond the amazing scope of the gameplay itself, the game is built upon a Procedural Content creation system, which is to say that ALL of the content in the game is made on the fly, and all of the creatures found in the game are player made, distributed across the internet in a sort of Passive Multiplayer. Actual player interaction is limited. There seems to be a cataloging system where you can choose if you like a particular players work. It is unclear if and how this will be expanded upon.
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Composed of members of the Demo scene, Will Wright put together a team of developers skilled in algorithmic programming and procedural content creation to develop Spore. Using this system, players have amazing freedom in designing their character. The players can modify the bone structure, the shape and even the color of their creatures with the creature creator, and the editor will automatically figure out how the creature walks. A side effect of this process is that a creature that would normally take up five Megabytes can be compressed into a single Kilobyte, which allows makes it extremely easy to transfer around, aiding the automatic distribution of player content
Your creature begins as a microscopic organism, working it's way up the food chain to galactic dominance. This acts as an introduction to the rest of the game, where key concepts, such as the open ended creature editor, are introduced.
Cell stage strategies
After awhile, your creature will grow large enough to leave the ocean. At this stage, you attempt to develop your creature to it's final shape, competing to survive along the way. At birth you will spend some time as a child, and many of the things you do in this stage will affect your creatures social development. You can, for instance, be a very social creature, forming small herds for protection and company, and this will have some effect on your creature in later stages.
Creature stage strategies
Eventually, your brain will grow large and complex enough to start the Tribal stage. This will have an RTS feel to it. You still use the editor, only now it's to make huts and tools. Instead of controlling one creature you control an entire tribe, and you must compete and interact with other Tribes, all the while trying to gather all the essentials materials needed to keep your people alive.
Tribal stage strategies
Once your tribe grows large enough, you will move onto the Civilization stage, where you build a full fledged city. Your creatures at this point have a distinct personality based on how you've played the game in previous stages, and your goal now isn't so much for your very survival, but to unite your planet. You interact with other cities via vehicles (of various types which can be made in a vehicle editor) which can be made for both war and trade. Once you take control of your planet, you gain a new editor and can move onto the next stage.
Civilization stage strategies
The UFO is described as the "Swiss army knife" of Spore. With it, you'll be able to affect your entire planet and even go to other planets in your solar system, where you can set up colonies in bubbles, or even terraform them. You can also transplant creatures and plants from your own world to the new ones. After you have established yourself in your solar system, you can upgrade your UFO with an interstellar drive and travel to other stars.
After the Civ. stage, you can leave the confines of your planet via a 'UFO', and the game suddenly becomes extremely open ended. Practically the UFO acts as a tool allowing you to modify, store, and create content. You can go to barren planets, terraforming them into planets suitable for life or you can go to another planet that already has life, storing and cataloging the species for further use or modification. After you upgrade your UFO, you will be able to leave your solar system and explore the galaxy at large, perhaps finding other civilizations to trade or war with.
Space stage strategies
Sandbox
Spore Space stage becomes a sandbox - most of the editors are unlocked. The space game never truly ends unlike the other stages, but there is plenty of goals such as getting to the Galactic Core, defeating the Grox and many other things. The space stage is a broad set of meta-games.
The Galactic Core and the Grox
This one of the hardest goals in the space game. The huge Grox Empire form an almost impenetrable blockade around the Core of the Galaxy. Gravity wells, star clusters and dangerous stellar phenomena block your ships path. The Grox are an evil cyborg race who reside near the Galactic Core.
Or alternatively you could battle your way to the Core either by terraforming or destroying the Grox colonies. You can even ally with the Grox but this makes other Empires extremely angry and they will be at war with you.
Depending on how you evolve in other stages of the game will decide which philosophy your creatures will be in the space game. such as a carnivorous cell, predatory creature, an industrious tribe and a military civilisation will end with a warrior empire. Each philosophy has its own unique powers and abilities.
The editors is one of the larger features of Spore. It allows almost anything to be modified or changed. In the game stages creations can be made to suite their environment. There is a complexity meter which stops creation becoming too complex. The creations depend on the amount of DNA or Sporebucks you have collected in the game. In the vehicle editor placing large engines and wheels increases speed but if many weapons are placed on the vehicle its military power rises but its speed gets depleted.
There have been many changes since the original GDC2005 presentation. In 2005 the game was largely unfinished, so many of the changes involve things which we haven't seen yet, but there have been some big changes to the game in it's long development that have both exited and frustrated many members of the Spore community.
One of the largest changes was the cancellation of a 'water' stage, a revamp in the Cell stages presentation, and the merging of the City/Civ stages. Many ideas that were much less developed in 2005 have been more fully realized as well – creature interaction, for instance, seemed to have been minimal originally, and is now a large portion of the game.
Spore Creature Creator is a standalone retail package allowing users to create creatures before the final release of the game. Spore Creature Creator was released on June 17, 2008, both in retail stores and download through EA's download service.
Spore won both IGN's and the Game Critic Awards' Best of E3 2005.
Spore has already had its first expansion - Spore Creepy and Cute parts pack which comes with 100 new parts. Spore Galactic Adventures has been released in the 23rd of June (US) and 26th of June (Europe). In the expansion players can create planets, adventures and much more. Two new Spore games have been announced for this year. Spore Hero (for Nintendo Wii) and Spore Creature Keeper. Not much is known about the upcoming games. An aquatic stage expansion may also be released.
There are many cheats for Spore such as moremoney, addDNA ect. Cheats are accsessible by holding Ctrl+Shift+c and typing help to see all other cheats. However cheating can disable any further achievements. The Joker Badge is then unlocked.
]] A spore is the way fungi and some non-flowering plants, such as ferns and mosses reproduce (make new fungi or plants), the same way seeds of other plants do.[1]
Fungi (for example, mushrooms) produce spores, which may be asexual or sexual. The asexual spores have inside them the genetic material to make a whole new organism identical to its parent.
Conidia are asexual,[2] non-motile spores of a fungus; they are also called mitospores due to the way they are generated through the cellular process of mitosis. They are haploid cells genetically identical to the haploid parent, can develop into a new organism if conditions are favorable, and serve in dispersal.
Asexual reproduction in Ascomycetes (the Phylum Ascomycota) is by the formation of conidia, which are bourne on specialized stalks called conidiophores. The morphology of these specialized conidiophores is often distinctive of a specific species and can therefore be used in identification of the species.
Bacterial spores are extremely resistant. Spores of tetanus and anthrax, for example, can survive in the soil for many years. The origin of these spores was discovered in the 19th century, when a biologist noticed, under the microscope, a small, round, bright body inside bacterial cells. This survived even when the bacteria were boiled for five minutes. This killed the bacteria, but not the spores. They germinated when conditions were right.[3]p186
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