THE EVOLUTION

OF LAND
PLANTS
BIRUAR, INGAN-ENG, MELENDEZ, PAMPLONA
 Before Land Plants

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 The Earliest Land “Plants”
⊷ For 1500 million
years, ⊷ When
photosynthetic atmospheric
organism oxygen levels
remained in the rose, living
sea things were
⊷ Due to the able to venture
absence of onto land
ozone layer, the
land had lethal
levels of UV
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radiation
 The seashore would have been
important in colonization of land
• algae would have been
exposed to fresh water running
off the land.
• Algae would have been
exposed to alternating wet and
desiccating environment.

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 Problems with life on land
1. Radiation
• damage from ultraviolet light
• heat
• damage to photosystems

2. Desiccation
• extremely drying air
• sporadic water supply

3. Dispersal
• no water for dispersal

4. Fertilization
5 • requires water
 Solution to the Problems
Poikilohydry- completely
reliant on environment for water.
When the environment dries out,
so does the plant. Remains
dormant while dry and recovers
rapidly when moisturized.

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 Homoiohydry- plants keep their water content
constant, and do not equilibrate with the
environment
Achieved through:
• Controlling water loss
• Controllable valves in cuticle for
photosynthesis
• Replacing lost water, internal conducting
tissue (xylem)
• 3D structure: minimizes surface area
• Ventilated tissue for enhanced gas exchange
7 • Increased productivity due to competition for
 EARLIEST EVIDENCE OF LAND PLANT
DNA- derived
dates suggest
that land plants
colonized even
earlier (around
700 mya)
Fossilized spores that dates back
to the Ordovician period (510-439
 BRYOPHYTES
⊷ One of the earliest
organisms
⊷ Seedless
⊷ Nonvascular
⊷ Rooted down by rhizoids
⊷ Poikilohydric
⊷ Are about 2-20 cm high

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 Emergence of Vascular plants
⊷About 425 mya, vascular plants came in
during the Silurian period.
⊷Vascular plants are homoiohydric

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Cooksonia Rhynia
 Baragwanathia
⊷ Much larger and
more complex
vascular plant
⊷ Has spirally-
arranged leaves
⊷ Is a lycophyte

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 Diversification of Land plants
Substantial diversification of land plants occurred during the
Devonian period (408-362 mya)
• Lycophytes
• Horsetails
• Progymnosperms
 They were small and lacked woody tissue
 Gymnosperm had evolved from progymnosperms in the
late Devonian period. The appearance of trees influenced
soil production because of its advanced root systems. It
also led to increased weathering.
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 IMPORTANCE OF SEEDS

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 • Cretaceous period (146-65 mya) was the time
that angiosperms was dominant.
• Angiosperms were successful because of the
evolution of the flower.
• The flower's pollen and nectar encourage
pollinating animals to visit, increasing the odds
of fertilisation by ensuring that pollen is
transferred efficiently from flower to flower.
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 • After fertilisation the carpel and other parts of
the flower are used to form fruit that aid
dispersal of the seeds inside the fruit.
• In addition, the xylem vessels of angiosperms
allow very rapid movement of water through the
plant. This means that flowering plants can
keep their stomata open through much of the
day, achieving higher photosynthetic rates than
gymnosperms; this "spare" photosynthetic
capacity can support the development of fruit.
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 2 MAJOR GROUPS
1.Dicotyledons- ex. Daisies,
hawthorns, oaks
2.Monocotyledons- ex. grasses

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