Internal fertilization via the pollen grain and development of the seed meant that gymnosperms were no longer dependent on for sexual reproduction.

Explanation:

Fertilization is a type of process in which male and female gates fuse to form a zygote. There are certain organisms such as Bryophyte and pteridophyte that require water to transfer the male gametes.

                           In the case of gymnosperm when fertilization takes place inside the plant there is no need for water. Gymnosperms are such types of plants that have only seed and do not produce flowers and thus no fruits. Their seeds are naked so-called gymnosperm.

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genetic variation can be caused by mutation (which can create entirely new alleles in a population), random mating, random fertilization, and recombination between homologous chromosomes during meiosis (which reshuffles alleles within an organism's offspring).