PLANT/ANIMAL EVOLUTION
|
|
PERIOD
|
M.Y.A.
|
PLANT EVOLUTION
|
ANIMAL EVOLUTION
|
|
Cenozoic Era
|
present
|
Angiosperms Dominate Land (decrease in number of species)
|
Age of Mammals
|
|
Quaternary
|
2
|
(dominance of land by angiosperms; increase in number of
species of herbaceous plants; phytoplankton continue to dominate water)
|
(dominance of land by mammals and insects; dominance of
water by bony fishes & zooplankton)
|
|
Tertiary
|
65
|
(dominance of land by angiosperms; increase in number of
species of herbaceous plants; Phytoplankton continue to dominate water)
|
(dominance of land by mammals and insects; dominance of
water by bony fishes & zooplankton)
|
|
Mesozoic Era
|
.
|
Gymnosperms Dominate Land; Phytoplankton continue to
dominate water)
|
Age of Dinosaurs/Age of Reptiles; Bony fishes &
zooplankton continue to dominate water
|
|
Cretaceous
|
138
|
Angiosperms spread
|
Dinosaurs become extinct
|
|
Jurassic
|
205
|
First Angiosperms (flowers) appear; gymnosperm forests
dominate land
|
First mammals & birds appear; dinosaurs & insects
dominate land
|
|
Triassic
|
240
|
Gymnosperms & ferns dominate land
|
First dinosaurs appear
|
|
Paleozoic Era
|
240
|
.
|
.
|
|
Permian
|
290
|
Seedless vascular forests decline as gymnosperms appear.
Females produce eggs, green branches are sporophytes,
pine cones (gametophyte) sex can be done without water
|
Amphibians decline as reptiles appear; arthropods abundant
|
|
Carboniferous
|
360
|
AGE OF GREAT COAL FORMING FORESTS. Seedless
vascular plants dominate land; phytoplankton continue to dominate water
|
AGE OF AMPHIBIANS (our ancestors). Arthropods share
dominance with amphibians on land; bony fishes & zooplankton continue to
dominate water
|
|
Devonian
|
360
|
Expansion of seedless vascular plants; swamp forests form
|
First land animals; arthropods (insects, crabs, spirders) followed by amphibians
|
|
Silurian
|
410
|
Seedless vascular plants appear (club moss, ferns -
produce spores, horsetail)
|
AGE OF FISHES. Fishes explode in diversity; share
dominance of water with zooplankton
|
|
Ordovician
|
435
|
Bryophytes appear on land (liverwarts,
gammeteophyte dominate generation)
|
AGE OF INVERTEBRATES. First fishes appear;
invertebrates & protozoans dominate the seas
|
|
Cambrian
|
505
|
Algae explodes in diversity (no
plants). Phytoplankton dominate the water
|
AGE OF INVERTEBRATES. Trilobites abundant,
invertebrates & protozoans dominate the water;
no life on land
|
|
Proterozoic Era
|
570 - 800
|
First multicellular organisms
appear; first sexual reproduction; plankton continue to dominate the water;
no life on land
|
|
Archean Era
|
2,500 - 3,900
|
Plankton (Moneras) dominate the
water; no life on land
|
