Bryophytes: The Beginning Of The Permian Period

The cross-sections demonstrated the basic differences that distinguish a monocot plant for a dicot plant. When looking at the cross-section of the monocot stem you can see that the vascular bundles are scattered. These vascular bundles consist of only a phloem and xylem. The phloem is responsible for transporting soluble compounds (food) created by photosynthesis, to the rest of the plant, especially where they are needed. The xylem is important for the movement of water throughout the plant. Another difference that can be seen by looking at the cross-section of at stem is that the ground tissue (parenchyma) is not partitioned into pith and cortex. In the dicot stem cross-section the vascular bundles form a ring and they are made up of a phloem, xylem, and a cambium which divides the two. The ground tissue (parenchyma) for a dicot is separate into a pith (nutrient storage and distribution) and a cortex (conducting tissues). The Leaf cross-sections reveal the venation of each plant. For monocots, the veins appeared run parallel to each other, while the veins for the dicot plant had no clear pattern. The root cross-sections also displayed differences between the groups belonging to the phylum Anthophyta. The root cross-section of a monocot is formed by vascular bundles that are arrange in a ring. In the dicot root cross-section, the xylem is at the center in the form of an

According to Margulis, the pre-eukaryotic cell engulfed an aerobic bacterium, but rather than digest and kill the bacterium, a symbiotic relationship was born. This relationship, the aerobic bacterium provided energy through ATP and the eukaryotic cell provided an environment to live while protecting the new symbiont from harm in environmental factors such as oxygen. Because almost all living eukaryotes have a mitochondria, it is safe to assume that this event happened before plants and animals split in the evolutionary lineage.After this first evolutionary leap came a

One type of succession that can form an ecosystem is a lithosere. A lithosere is a plant succession that begins life on a newly exposed rock surface, such as one left bare as a result of glacial retreat, tectonic uplift as in the formation of a raised beach, or volcanic eruption. The lithosere succession is initiated by pioneer plants, such as blue and green algae with colonise the sock as there are into a lot of nutrients available and they have no root systems, so they can survive in the hostile conditions. The succession then progresses due to the pioneer plants dissolving the rock, resulting in a release of nutrients. This then means that mosses, lichens and liverworts are able to thrive on that ground as the moss can absorb nutrients from rain water and they provide their own energy from photosynthesis. These plants chemically decay the rock by releasing acids, and physically decay the rock as a result of their root systems, leading

Some 480 million years ago, way before the dinosaurs, the Ordovician period, was the period when plants were finally able to inhabit land. It lasted for 42 million years. Sea levels were very high during this time, which allowed the already present sea creatures to grow to even larger proportions.

With all of the speculation over CO2 some people have been overlooking methane. “In 2006, the scientists who monitor methane, a greenhouse gas about 30 times more potent than carbon dioxide, thought that concentrations of the gas, which had sharply risen in the 1980s, had plateaued.” (Ogburn, Stephanie Paige) “Since then, researchers have seen a “sudden growth” of about 6 parts per billion per year, noted in the journal Science, that has pushed methane levels in the atmosphere to the highest they’ve ever been.” (Koebler, Jason) Could methane, the same chemical that heats your home, strike a second time? The Permian Mass Extinction was about 248 million years ago and the most recent mass extinction, K/T, was 65 million years ago. Will the rising

The first period of the Mesozoic Era is the Triassic. The Triassic Period spanned over roughly 252 million years to 201 million years ago. The first portion of the Triassic Period a.k.a. the Early Triassic Period was before the continents had even broke apart from the large mass called Pangaea. During this time most of the land was desert due to a mass extinction prior time, where more than 90 percent of the inhabitants died off. The second portion of the Triassic Period is the Middle Triassic Period. During this time Pangaea began to break apart and life began to flourish, many sea creatures began to recover, such as algae and corals, and on land there vast amounts of pine forests. The late Triassic the third and final portion of the Triassic Period is the boom of reptilian evolution, with countless heat spells and moderate precipitation. During this time there was another mass extinction call the Triassic-Jurassic extinction.

Until one day the changing climate Conditions allowed grasslands to expand, foliage plants disappeared. And about 20 million years ago, many new species rapidly evolved. Some but not all of the hyracotherium become bigger and stronger. And only those who become bigger and stronger can run faster which lead

The triassic period lasted for 37 million years, from 245 to 208 million years ago. The Triassic started with a generally warm and wet atmosphere . Be that as it may, fossilized sand found in later Triassic strata propose that the general atmosphere was hot and dry, albeit a few zones may have had characterized stormy seasons. Fossils found in Triassic rocks propose this was a time of progress, in which more established types of plants and creatures ceased to exist and new ones started to show up. A noteworthy eradication had happened toward the finish of the Paleozoic. More than 90 percent of marine invertebrate species wound up plainly wiped out, and also numerous different types of land plants and creatures. Researchers guess that a mix

The beginning of the Cambrian Explosion is normally thought to have occurred about 542 million years ago, during the Cambrian Period at the start of the Palaeozoic Era. This ‘explosion’ happened over millions of years although it is described as rapid in geological terms. In this period of time, the Earth saw the rapid appearance of a wide variety of animals. Ecosystems became much more complex in the Cambrian Period to those that were seen in Ediacaran Period. As the variety and number of new organisms increased, they started to occupy new marine habitats and environments. Cambrian seas saw many animals of different shapes and sizes; some lived on the sea floor while others swam in the water.

The first forests appeared near the close of the Devonian. Towards the end of the Devonian period, many major extinction events occurred. One was the Taghanic Event, which killed off many goniatites, corals, and brachiopods. It’s still debated what the cause of these events were, but some think it was a meteorite. Others say it was because of the sea level lowering or changes in atmospheric carbon dioxide. Up to 70 percent of invertebrate species died, but terrestrial plants and animals weren’t affected much.

Ordovician Period: During the Ordovician Life expanded in diversity tremendously. There were extensive reef complexes in the tropics. The early Ordovician was thought to be quite warm, at least in the tropics. Despite the tremendous expansion of life during the Ordovician Period there was a devastating mass extinction of organisms at the end of the Ordovician. This extinction was one of the greatest mass extinction ever recorded in Earth History with over 100 families going extinct. One of the reasons is that it was the breakup and movement of the large super continent into many fragments. However, modern biology teaches us that this would not likely lead to extinctions, rather it would provide additional niche space for groups to expand into.

The remains of plants and animals, are part of the strata, or layers of the earth. Several articles discuss Phytoliths and their impact on the strata that have formed over time. A University of Washington publication defines Phytoliths: “Phytoliths are microscopic silica bodies that precipitate in and around cells in many plants. When plant tissues decompose, the silica is deposited in the soil, forming a record of past vegetation.” They provide evidence of the plants found in the historic layers of earth.

The bristlecone pine is known to grow in the White Mountains of eastern California. In that area conditions are not most desirable and ideal for plants to grow, however the bristlecone has managed to withstand the harsh conditions and surpass the hands of time. The White Mountains are an area that experiences short summers with a season for growing only being measured at several weeks. These mountains also adhere to strong dry winds that travel against rocky souls. These type of conditions cause any rain water that may fall to either drain off to fast for the plant to absorb or the water to just evaporate (Matthews, M). With such harsh conditions it is amazing that the bristlecone is still standing as the oldest living organism, unless it is because of these harsh conditions that the tree has such longevity.

Jurassic is a period of time with Dinosaurs, rodents and birds. There were also island seas consisting of sharks, sea monsters and blood-red planktons. The existing plants in that period were cycads, ferns and conifers. The Mesozoic era was about 245 million years ago to 65 years ago, so it almost lasted about 180 years in total. The Mesozoic era is divided into three periods of Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous. Mesozoic era means middle animals and it is the era, which the word’s fauna has changed from what is in the Paleozoic era and the most famous organisms of this era are dinosaurs. In the Mesozoic era, the extinction of more than 90 percent of species in the earth was observed and the reason behind it was mostly volcanic eruptions and climate changes. On the other hand, this era had massive changes that represented ecological niches and rise to new creatures such as rodent-size mammals and first dinosaurs. In Triassic, which was the first period of Mesozoic, the mammals and first dinosaurs existed. Later than that, the second period was Jurassic, which giant shaped dinosaurs and other kinds of dinosaurs were developed. Besides that the first flowering plants and primitive birds, with long teeth appeared in that era as well.

The movement to land by plants has been a point of great interest for many researchers. The complexity of the situation is in the characterization of those traits that were most essential to the viability on land, and whether those traits developed prior to terrestrialization or post terrestrialization. This complexity stems from the long branch of phylogeny leading to terrestrialization having an incomplete fossil record due to environmental changes throughout time. The gold standard hypothesis on terrestrialization introduced by Bower is accepted in the scientific community as the explanation for terrestrial plant diversification of plant orders and families. Bower’s hypothesis articulates, “that the evolution of antithetic alternating life cycles was instrumental in adapting to the terrestrial habitat. (Harholt et al., 2016)” In other words the development of the free living sporophyte and gametophyte was critical to a plants ability to live on land. This information if taken only to mean the diversification of land plant orders and families is accepted by most without question, for the alternating life cycle is imperative to suitability of land plants; however, if Bower intended for his hypothesis to be inclusive of the primordial terrestrialization then his hypothesis has encountered some criticism. Stebbins and Hill in 1980 conducted research that concluded with the premise that unicellular charophytes invaded