Concept explainers
To review:
The time and the geological period when the last common ancestor of the seed plants as well as ferns lived.
Given:
The fFigure 1 shows the geological timescale of the origin of various embryophytes (land plants) including ferns and seed plants.
Figure 1: The geological timescale of the origin of various embryophytes.
Introduction:
Horsetails, ferns, and seed plants form a clade commonly referred as euphyllophytes. These are the true leaf plants. Another important characteristic feature of these plants is overtopping. It is a growth pattern, where one branch of the plant gets differentiated from the other and grows beyond that other branch. This feature gives an advantage to the plants in competition for light.
Explanation of Solution
It can be clearly observed from Figure 1 that the common ancestor of ferns as well as the seed plants originated about 390 million years ago in the mid-Devonian period of the Paleozoic era. Today, the ferns comprise of more than 12,000 species whereas there are about 15 known species of horsetails. The species of horsetails lie in a single genus, Equisetum. It can be noticed that horsetail species are more closely linked to ferns as compared to the seed plants.
Therefore, it can be concluded that common ancestor of ferns and seed plants arose in mid-Devonian about 390 million years ago.
Want to see more full solutions like this?
- Do mosses have an alternation of isomorphic or heteromorphic generations? That is, can you easily tell a moss gametophyte from a moss sporophyte? When we look at leafy green moss plants, what are we seeing—the gametophyte or the sporophyte? In a flowering plant species, would the equivalent stage be the plant or the pollen grains and megagametophytes?arrow_forwardWhen did plants first emerge? What kinds of fossils were found to give us some ideas about the timeline? What group of green algae is most closely related to plants? How do we know?arrow_forwardWhat is the correct order of appearance in the fossil record, starting with the earliest: flowering plants, ferns, gymnosperms?arrow_forward
- How might Bryophytes and Lycophytes (“true” mosses and spikemosses) have contributed to the evolution of flowering plants and other land plants?arrow_forwardFerns and their allies are both vascular plants which means they all contain the xylem & phloem for water and food transport. Discuss two significant developments/ features that evolved among the ferns that differentiate them from the lower vascular plants.arrow_forwardAre mosses a direct ancestor of flowering plants? Explain.arrow_forward
- In a young anther, a group of compactly arranged homogenous cells were observed in the centre of each microsporangium. What is the name given to these cells?arrow_forwardwhich plant family often has a basal rosette of leaves and a well-developed hypanthium?arrow_forwardCompare and contrast bryophytes (e.g. mosses) and seedless vascular plants (e.g. ferns). What differences exist between these classifications of plants, and how have these differences become evolutionarily advantageous?arrow_forward
- What is a shared trait between bryophytes and seedless vascular plants? Plants in both groups have vascular tissue. The dominant generation in both groups is the sporophyte. In both groups, sperm swim from antheridia to archegonia. Plants in both groups have true roots, stems, and leaves.arrow_forwardWhat types of evidence support the hypothesis that land plants descended from the group of green algae known as charophytes?arrow_forwardWhat would be a more distinct lifestage in seedless vascular plants? Sporophyte or Gametophytearrow_forward
- Human Anatomy & Physiology (11th Edition)BiologyISBN:9780134580999Author:Elaine N. Marieb, Katja N. HoehnPublisher:PEARSONBiology 2eBiologyISBN:9781947172517Author:Matthew Douglas, Jung Choi, Mary Ann ClarkPublisher:OpenStaxAnatomy & PhysiologyBiologyISBN:9781259398629Author:McKinley, Michael P., O'loughlin, Valerie Dean, Bidle, Theresa StouterPublisher:Mcgraw Hill Education,
- Molecular Biology of the Cell (Sixth Edition)BiologyISBN:9780815344322Author:Bruce Alberts, Alexander D. Johnson, Julian Lewis, David Morgan, Martin Raff, Keith Roberts, Peter WalterPublisher:W. W. Norton & CompanyLaboratory Manual For Human Anatomy & PhysiologyBiologyISBN:9781260159363Author:Martin, Terry R., Prentice-craver, CynthiaPublisher:McGraw-Hill Publishing Co.Inquiry Into Life (16th Edition)BiologyISBN:9781260231700Author:Sylvia S. Mader, Michael WindelspechtPublisher:McGraw Hill Education