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 Without plants, there would have been no dinosaurs (or any other land animals). Plants are at the base of the food web (also called the food chain). Plants convert solar energy (sunlight) into chemical energy, which animals can eat. Plants are called "producers" or autotrophs because of this; they produce the fundamental food energy that all animals use.

** Meat-eating animals (carnivores like Tyrannosaurus rex) ** get their energy by eating other animals, mostly ** plant-eating animals (herbivores like Triceratops) **. The ** herbivores ** get their energy by eating ** plants (like cycads) **. The ** plants (producers or autotrophs) ** get their energy from ** sunlight **, converting the light into chemical energy using ** photosynthesis **. ||

  Another amazing thing that plants do is change the composition of the air. Plants actually changed the chemical makeup of the Earth's atmosphere by giving off oxygen and absorbing carbon dioxide. They also contribute to erosion and the creation of soil. Also, since plants are stationary, they determine where plant-eating animals live.

The development of plants was closely tied to the fate of the dinosaurs. Since most dinosaurs were plant-eaters, the nature and amount of available plants dictated whether a plant-eating dinosaur would thrive or die (and indirectly, would even influence the fate of meat-eating dinosaurs). As plants evolved through the Mesozoic Era, their distribution changed drastically, leading to the demise of some dinosaurs and the rise of new types of dinosaurs.

The Mesozoic landscape was very different that the modern-day landscapes. First of all, most of the plants around us today are flowering plants, and these did not evolve until relatively late in the Mesozoic (about 140 million years ago). Second, the Mesozoic Era was much sparser than today in both plant and animal life. There was much less diversity in life forms and fewer individual organisms, although the diversity increased throughout the Mesozoic Era. This Era ended in a huge mass extinction about 65 million years ago.

During the Mesozoic Era, when the dinosaurs lived, conifers dominated the landscape. These slow-growing evergreen trees and shrubs probably constituted the majority of the herbivorous dinosaurs' diets. Conifers were probably important food for dinosaurs, including the large [|sauropods].
 * Conifers:**

Mesozoic Era conifers included redwoods, yews, pines, the monkey puzzle tree (Araucaria), cypress, Pseudofrenelopsis (a Cheirolepidiacean). Towards the end of the Jurassic period, flowering plants evolved and began to overtake conifers as the dominant flora.

Leptocycas was a cycad, a primitive seed plant from the late Triassic period. It was a palm-like tree with a long, woody trunk and tough leaves. It lived in warm climates. This tree was about 4.8 ft (1.5 m) tall. ||
 * Cycadophytes:**

//Williamsonia sewardiana// was a cycadeoid (a bennettitalean). It had a woody stem and simple leaves. || Cycadophytes included the Cycads and Cycadeoids (Bennettitales), plants with woody stems (some erect, some spherical) and very tough leaves. These two groups differ mainly in the way they reproduce: Cycads have separate male and female plants; Cycadeoids do not always. Cycadeoids are now extinct but there are still a few cycads. Some Mesozoic Era Cycads included: Leptocycas, Cycas, Zamia, Dioon, Bowenia, Stangeria, and Microcyas. Some Mesozoic Cycadeoids included: Cycadeoidea, Vardekloeftia, Williamsonia, Williamsoniella, Westersheimia, and Leguminanthus.

Cycadophytes dominated southern areas during the Triassic period and thrived during the Jurassic, but began to decline in the mid-Cretaceous period. Cycadeoids went extinct.

Gingkos (the maidenhair tree, family Gingkoaceae) are deciduous (losing their soft leaves in cold weather) gymnosperms that were common at higher altitudes. Gingkos peaked during the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods. Gingkos are still around today.
 * Gingkos:**

Horsetails were an important source of nutrition for plant-eating dinosaurs. These primitive vascular plants were fast-growing and resilient (they could propagate using underground runners which a grazing dinosaur wouldn't eat). This meant that a hungry dinosaur could eat the plant without killing it, since the plant would regrow from the rhizome (the underground stem). || Pteridophytes are a group of primitive vascular plants that include Lycopods (club mosses), [|Sphenopsids] (horsetails, shown left), and ferns (shown, right). These plants reproduce with spores that germinate only in moist areas; they also reproduce using rhizomes (underground stems). Pteridophytes evolved during the Devonian and were mostly low-growing during the [|Mesozoic Era]. These fast-growing, resilient plants were a source of food for [|plant-eating dinosaurs] that lived in moist areas.
 * Pteridophytes:**

[|Glossopteris], a tree-like seed fern (Pteriosperm) from the Permian through the [|Triassic Period]. It had tongue-shaped leaves and was about 12 ft (3.7 m) tall. Glossopteris was a dominant plant in [|Gondwana] (the southern supercontinent) early in the Triassic period. || Seed ferns (Pteridosperms) had fern-like leaves but bore seeds and not spores. This group included Glossopteris, Dicroidium, Caytonia, Denkania, and Lidgettonia.
 * Seed ferns: **

Seed ferns dominated southern Pangaea during the Triassic period. Seed ferns went extinct during early in the Cretaceous period. Glossopterids went extinct at the end of the Triassic period.

Flowering plants (angiosperms) evolved about 140 million years ago, during the late [|Jurassic period] and dramatically changed the Earth's landscape, quickly taking over most of the ecological niches. These fast-growing, adaptable plants also gave rise to a HUGE boom in the dinosaur world. Most of the dinosaurs that have been found date from the late Cretaceous period, when flowering plants were suppling plant-eating dinosaurs (like hadrosaurs) with plentiful and nutritious food. Some Mesozoic Era angiosperms included magnolias, laurel, barberry, early sycamores, and palms. Grasses may have evolved later.
 * Flowering plants:**


 * THE EVOLUTION OF LAND PLANTS **

** PANGAEA AND WEATHER DURING THE MESOZOIC ERA ** The dinosaurs evolved early in the [|Mesozoic Era], during the Triassic period (about 228 million years ago). At the start of the Mesozoic Era, the continents of the Earth were jammed together into the supercontinent of Pangaea; this land mass had a hot, dry interior with many deserts. The polar regions were moist and temperate. During the Mesozoic, Pangaea began breaking apart and the weather changed.

[|Seed plants] from the UCMP, Berkeley, CA. [|Plant evolution] from Prof. Tom Herbert at the University of Miami, FL [|Plant Fossil Record] from the International Organisation of Paleobotany [|Links for Paleobotanists] from the Mineralogisches Institut, Universität Würzburg.
 * PALEOBOTANY LINKS **

**ZoomDinosaurs.com** First dinosaurs and mammals  |||||| ** [|Jurassic Period] ** Many dinosaurs and the first birds  |||||| ** [|Cretaceous Period] ** First flowering plants, the height of the dinosaurs. Ends in huge extinction. || || 248-227 mya || [|**Late**] 227-206 mya || [|**Early**] (Lias) 206-180 mya  || [|**Middle**] (Dogger) 180-154 mya  || [|**Late**] (Malm) 154-144 mya  || [|**Early**] (Neocomian) 144-127 mya  || [|**Middle**] (Gallic) 127-89 mya  || [|**Late**] (Senonian) 89-65 mya  || ||
 * ** [|The Mesozoic Era] ** (248 - 65 million years ago) [|Ages of the Mesozoic Era] ||
 * ** [|Triassic Period] **
 * 248 - 206 mya **
 * 206-144 mya **
 * 144-65 mya **
 * **Early - Middle**




 * Petrified Forest National Park in Arizona contains hundreds of acres of perfectly preserved logs from an ancient tropical flood plain during the late Triassic Period (over 200 million years ago). The trees of this extinct forest coexisted with dinosaurs. Many of the petrified logs have been assigned to the genus **Araucarioxylon**, a presumed distant relative of **Araucaria**; however, new evidence indicates that these petrified logs represent a broad diversity of conifer species. Streams carried dead logs into this once swampy lowland region where they were buried in sediments rich in volcanic ash. The woody tissue of the logs became impregnated with minerals such as silica and gradually turned into stone. ||


 * Diorama of araucariad forest from 200 million years ago, when all the continents were united into the vast supercontinent Pangea. Whether any logs at Petrified Forest National Park came from trees such as these is unknown at this time. From all the thousands of petrified logs, one can only imagine the extent and diversity of this ancient forest of giant trees. Diorama on display at the Rainbow Forest Museum, Petrified Forest National Park. ||


 * Left: A cone-bearing branch from the Norfolk Island pine (**Araucaria heterophylla**), indigenous to remote Norfolk Island between Australia and New Zealand. Right: Petrified ovulate cone of **Araucaria mirabilis** from Patagonia, Argentina. This extinct species of **Araucaria** dates back to the Jurassic Period (135-180 million years ago), when giant dinosaurs ruled the earth. Although prickles on the cone scales have worn away after millions of years of erosion, the cone is remarkably similar in appearance to modern-day species of **Araucaria**. [Fossil cone from collection of San Diego Gem & Mineral Society.] ||


 * Petrified 170 million-year-old seed cone of **Araucaria mirabilis** from Patagonia ||

The Cretaceous period


 * ** 144-65 ** ** Million Years Ago ** ||


 * The Cretaceous period of the Mesozoic era may have seen more dinosaurs then ever before. The horned Cretaceous dinosaurs appeared, like the Triceratops and Centrosaurus. The armored Ankylosaurus, duckbilled Parasaurolophus, and large carnivore Tyrannosaurus were a few of the quickly evolving dinosaurs. Birds became increasingly numerous & flowering plants were emerging. By the end of the Cretaceous period, all large and small ruling reptiles, except the crocodile went extinct.  ||


 *  ||  ||  ||   ||  ||


 * // [|Albertosaurus& Corythosaurus] // ||   || // [|Tyrannosaurusrex] //  ||   || // [|Tyrannosaurusrex] //  ||


 *  ||  ||  ||   ||  ||

Meteor impact causing dinosaur extinction   ||   || // [|Corythosaurus] //  ||   || // [|Parasaurolophus] //  ||
 * // [|Anatosaurus] //


 *  ||  ||  ||   ||  ||


 * // [|Carnotaurus] // ||   || // [|Gallimimus] //  ||   || // [|Triceratops] //  ||


 *  ||  ||  ||   ||  ||


 * // [|Monoclonius] // ||   || // [|Triceratops& Tyrannosaurus] //  ||   || // [|Tarbosaurus] //  ||


 *  ||  || <span style="color: black; display: block; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; textunderline: none;"> ||   || <span style="color: black; display: block; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 8pt; msobidifontsize: 12.0pt; text-align: center;"> ||


 * // [|Kronosaurus] // ||   || // [|Pteranodon] //  ||   || <span style="color: black; display: block; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 8pt; msobidifontsize: 12.0pt; text-align: center;"> ||

** DINOSAURS AND PLANTS ** Without plants, there would have been no dinosaurs (or any other land animals).

Plants are at the base of the food web (also called the food chain). Plants convert solar energy (sunlight) into chemical energy, which animals can eat. Plants are called "producers" or autotrophs because of this; they produce the fundamental food energy that all animals use.


 * Meat-eating animals (carnivores like Tyrannosaurus rex) ** get their energy by eating other animals, mostly ** plant-eating animals (herbivores like Triceratops) **. The ** herbivores ** get their energy by eating ** plants (like cycads) **. The ** plants (producers or autotrophs) ** get their energy from ** sunlight **, converting the light into chemical energy using ** photosynthesis **. ||
 * Meat-eating animals (carnivores like Tyrannosaurus rex) ** get their energy by eating other animals, mostly ** plant-eating animals (herbivores like Triceratops) **. The ** herbivores ** get their energy by eating ** plants (like cycads) **. The ** plants (producers or autotrophs) ** get their energy from ** sunlight **, converting the light into chemical energy using ** photosynthesis **. ||

Another amazing thing that plants do is change the composition of the air. Plants actually changed the chemical makeup of the Earth's atmosphere by giving off oxygen and absorbing carbon dioxide. They also contribute to erosion and the creation of soil. Also, since plants are stationary, they determine where plant-eating animals live.

The development of plants was closely tied to the fate of the dinosaurs. Since most dinosaurs were plant-eaters, the nature and amount of available plants dictated whether a plant-eating dinosaur would thrive or die (and indirectly, would even influence the fate of meat-eating dinosaurs). As plants evolved through the Mesozoic Era, their distribution changed drastically, leading to the demise of some dinosaurs and the rise of new types of dinosaurs.

** Mesozoic Era Plants ** The Mesozoic landscape was very different that the modern-day landscapes. First of all, most of the plants around us today are flowering plants, and these did not evolve until relatively late in the Mesozoic (about 140 million years ago). Second, the Mesozoic Era was much sparser than today in both plant and animal life. There was much less diversity in life forms and fewer individual organisms, although the diversity increased throughout the Mesozoic Era. This Era ended in a huge mass extinction about 65 million years ago.

During the Mesozoic Era, when the dinosaurs lived, conifers dominated the landscape. These slow-growing evergreen trees and shrubs probably constituted the majority of the herbivorous dinosaurs' diets. Conifers were probably important food for dinosaurs, including the large [|sauropods].
 * Conifers:**

Mesozoic Era conifers included redwoods, yews, pines, the monkey puzzle tree (Araucaria), cypress, Pseudofrenelopsis (a Cheirolepidiacean). Towards the end of the Jurassic period, flowering plants evolved and began to overtake conifers as the dominant flora.

Leptocycas was a cycad, a primitive seed plant from the late Triassic period. It was a palm-like tree with a long, woody trunk and tough leaves. It lived in warm climates. This tree was about 4.8 ft (1.5 m) tall. ||
 * Cycadophytes:**

//Williamsonia sewardiana// was a cycadeoid (a bennettitalean). It had a woody stem and simple leaves. || Cycadophytes included the Cycads and Cycadeoids (Bennettitales), plants with woody stems (some erect, some spherical) and very tough leaves. These two groups differ mainly in the way they reproduce: Cycads have separate male and female plants; Cycadeoids do not always. Cycadeoids are now extinct but there are still a few cycads. Some Mesozoic Era Cycads included: Leptocycas, Cycas, Zamia, Dioon, Bowenia, Stangeria, and Microcyas. Some Mesozoic Cycadeoids included: Cycadeoidea, Vardekloeftia, Williamsonia, Williamsoniella, Westersheimia, and Leguminanthus.

Cycadophytes dominated southern areas during the Triassic period and thrived during the Jurassic, but began to decline in the mid-Cretaceous period. Cycadeoids went extinct.

Gingkos (the maidenhair tree, family Gingkoaceae) are deciduous (losing their soft leaves in cold weather) gymnosperms that were common at higher altitudes. Gingkos peaked during the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods. Gingkos are still around today.
 * Gingkos:**


 * Pteridophytes:**

Horsetails were an important source of nutrition for plant-eating dinosaurs. These primitive vascular plants were fast-growing and resilient (they could propagate using underground runners which a grazing dinosaur wouldn't eat). This meant that a hungry dinosaur could eat the plant without killing it, since the plant would regrow from the rhizome (the underground stem). || Pteridophytes are a group of primitive vascular plants that include Lycopods (club mosses), [|Sphenopsids] (horsetails, shown left), and ferns (shown, right). These plants reproduce with spores that germinate only in moist areas; they also reproduce using rhizomes (underground stems). Pteridophytes evolved during the Devonian and were mostly low-growing during the [|Mesozoic Era]. These fast-growing, resilient plants were a source of food for [|plant-eating dinosaurs] that lived in moist areas.

[|Glossopteris], a tree-like seed fern (Pteriosperm) from the Permian through the [|Triassic Period]. It had tongue-shaped leaves and was about 12 ft (3.7 m) tall. Glossopteris was a dominant plant in [|Gondwana] (the southern supercontinent) early in the Triassic period. || Seed ferns (Pteridosperms) had fern-like leaves but bore seeds and not spores. This group included Glossopteris, Dicroidium, Caytonia, Denkania, and Lidgettonia.
 * Seed ferns: **

Seed ferns dominated southern Pangaea during the Triassic period. Seed ferns went extinct during early in the Cretaceous period. Glossopterids went extinct at the end of the Triassic period.

Flowering plants (angiosperms) evolved about 140 million years ago, during the late [|Jurassic period] and dramatically changed the Earth's landscape, quickly taking over most of the ecological niches. These fast-growing, adaptable plants also gave rise to a HUGE boom in the dinosaur world. Most of the dinosaurs that have been found date from the late Cretaceous period, when flowering plants were suppling plant-eating dinosaurs (like hadrosaurs) with plentiful and nutritious food. Some Mesozoic Era angiosperms included magnolias, laurel, barberry, early sycamores, and palms. Grasses may have evolved later.
 * Flowering plants:**


 * THE EVOLUTION OF LAND PLANTS **

The dinosaurs evolved early in the [|Mesozoic Era], during the Triassic period (about 228 million years ago). At the start of the Mesozoic Era, the continents of the Earth were jammed together into the supercontinent of Pangaea; this land mass had a hot, dry interior with many deserts. The polar regions were moist and temperate. During the Mesozoic, Pangaea began breaking apart and the weather changed.
 * PANGAEA AND WEATHER DURING THE MESOZOIC ERA **

[|Seed plants] from the UCMP, Berkeley, CA. [|Plant evolution]from Prof. Tom Herbert at the University of Miami, FL [|Plant Fossil Record] from the International Organisation of Paleobotany [|Links for Paleobotanists] from the Mineralogisches Institut, Universität Würzburg.
 * PALEOBOTANY LINKS **

**ZoomDinosaurs.com** First dinosaurs and mammals |||||| ** [|Jurassic Period] ** Many dinosaurs and the first birds |||||| ** [|Cretaceous Period] ** First flowering plants, the height of the dinosaurs. Ends in huge extinction. || || 248-227 mya || [|**Late**] 227-206 mya || [|**Early**] (Lias) 206-180 mya || [|**Middle**] (Dogger) 180-154 mya || [|**Late**] (Malm) 154-144 mya || [|**Early**] (Neocomian) 144-127 mya || [|**Middle**] (Gallic) 127-89 mya || [|**Late**] (Senonian) 89-65 mya || ||
 * ** [|The Mesozoic Era] ** (248 - 65 million years ago) [|Ages of the Mesozoic Era] ||
 * ** [|Triassic Period] **
 * 248 - 206 mya **
 * 206-144 mya **
 * 144-65 mya **
 * **Early - Middle**

Animals and Plants ** of Jurassic Park **




 * Petrified Forest National Park in Arizona contains hundreds of acres of perfectly preserved logs from an ancient tropical flood plain during the late Triassic Period (over 200 million years ago). The trees of this extinct forest coexisted with dinosaurs. Many of the petrified logs have been assigned to the genus **Araucarioxylon**, a presumed distant relative of **Araucaria**; however, new evidence indicates that these petrified logs represent a broad diversity of conifer species. Streams carried dead logs into this once swampy lowland region where they were buried in sediments rich in volcanic ash. The woody tissue of the logs became impregnated with minerals such as silica and gradually turned into stone. ||


 * Diorama of araucariad forest from 200 million years ago, when all the continents were united into the vast supercontinent Pangea. Whether any logs at Petrified Forest National Park came from trees such as these is unknown at this time. From all the thousands of petrified logs, one can only imagine the extent and diversity of this ancient forest of giant trees. Diorama on display at the Rainbow Forest Museum, Petrified Forest National Park. ||


 * Left: A cone-bearing branch from the Norfolk Island pine (**Araucaria heterophylla**), indigenous to remote Norfolk Island between Australia and New Zealand. Right: Petrified ovulate cone of **Araucaria mirabilis** from Patagonia, Argentina. This extinct species of **Araucaria** dates back to the Jurassic Period (135-180 million years ago), when giant dinosaurs ruled the earth. Although prickles on the cone scales have worn away after millions of years of erosion, the cone is remarkably similar in appearance to modern-day species of **Araucaria**. [Fossil cone from collection of San Diego Gem & Mineral Society.] ||


 * Petrified 170 million-year-old seed cone of **Araucaria mirabilis** from Patagonia ||




 * ** 144-65 ** ** Million Years Ago ** ||


 * The Cretaceous period of the Mesozoic era may have seen more dinosaurs then ever before. The horned Cretaceous dinosaurs appeared, like the Triceratops and Centrosaurus. The armored Ankylosaurus, duckbilled Parasaurolophus, and large carnivore Tyrannosaurus were a few of the quickly evolving dinosaurs. Birds became increasingly numerous & flowering plants were emerging. By the end of the Cretaceous period, all large and small ruling reptiles, except the crocodile went extinct.  ||


 * <span style="color: black; display: block; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; textunderline: none;"> ||  || <span style="color: black; display: block; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; textunderline: none;"> ||   || <span style="color: black; display: block; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; textunderline: none;"> ||


 * // [|Albertosaurus& Corythosaurus] // ||   || // [|Tyrannosaurusrex] //  ||   || // [|Tyrannosaurusrex] //  ||


 * <span style="color: black; display: block; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; textunderline: none;"> ||  || <span style="color: black; display: block; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; textunderline: none;"> ||   || <span style="color: black; display: block; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; textunderline: none;"> ||

Meteor impact causing dinosaur extinction  ||   || // [|Corythosaurus] //  ||   || // [|Parasaurolophus] //  ||
 * // [|Anatosaurus] //


 * <span style="color: black; display: block; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; textunderline: none;"> ||  || <span style="color: black; display: block; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; textunderline: none;"> ||   || <span style="color: black; display: block; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; textunderline: none;"> ||


 * // [|Carnotaurus] // ||   || // [|Gallimimus] //  ||   || // [|Triceratops] //  ||


 * <span style="color: black; display: block; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; textunderline: none;"> ||  || <span style="color: black; display: block; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; textunderline: none;"> ||   || <span style="color: black; display: block; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; textunderline: none;"> ||


 * // [|Monoclonius] // ||   || // [|Triceratops& Tyrannosaurus] //  ||   || // [|Tarbosaurus] //  ||


 * <span style="color: black; display: block; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; textunderline: none;"> ||  || <span style="color: black; display: block; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; textunderline: none;"> ||   || ||


 * // [|Kronosaurus] // ||   || // [|Pteranodon] //  ||   || ||

** DINOSAURS AND PLANTS ** Without plants, there would have been no dinosaurs (or any other land animals).

Plants are at the base of the food web (also called the food chain). Plants convert solar energy (sunlight) into chemical energy, which animals can eat. Plants are called "producers" or autotrophs because of this; they produce the fundamental food energy that all animals use.

Another amazing thing that plants do is change the composition of the air. Plants actually changed the chemical makeup of the Earth's atmosphere by giving off oxygen and absorbing carbon dioxide. They also contribute to erosion and the creation of soil. Also, since plants are stationary, they determine where plant-eating animals live.
 * Meat-eating animals (carnivores like Tyrannosaurus rex) ** get their energy by eating other animals, mostly ** plant-eating animals (herbivores like Triceratops) **. The ** herbivores ** get their energy by eating ** plants (like cycads) **. The ** plants (producers or autotrophs) ** get their energy from ** sunlight **, converting the light into chemical energy using ** photosynthesis **. ||
 * Meat-eating animals (carnivores like Tyrannosaurus rex) ** get their energy by eating other animals, mostly ** plant-eating animals (herbivores like Triceratops) **. The ** herbivores ** get their energy by eating ** plants (like cycads) **. The ** plants (producers or autotrophs) ** get their energy from ** sunlight **, converting the light into chemical energy using ** photosynthesis **. ||

The development of plants was closely tied to the fate of the dinosaurs. Since most dinosaurs were plant-eaters, the nature and amount of available plants dictated whether a plant-eating dinosaur would thrive or die (and indirectly, would even influence the fate of meat-eating dinosaurs). As plants evolved through the Mesozoic Era, their distribution changed drastically, leading to the demise of some dinosaurs and the rise of new types of dinosaurs.

** Mesozoic Era Plants ** The Mesozoic landscape was very different that the modern-day landscapes. First of all, most of the plants around us today are flowering plants, and these did not evolve until relatively late in the Mesozoic (about 140 million years ago). Second, the Mesozoic Era was much sparser than today in both plant and animal life. There was much less diversity in life forms and fewer individual organisms, although the diversity increased throughout the Mesozoic Era. This Era ended in a huge mass extinction about 65 million years ago.

During the Mesozoic Era, when the dinosaurs lived, conifers dominated the landscape. These slow-growing evergreen trees and shrubs probably constituted the majority of the herbivorous dinosaurs' diets. Conifers were probably important food for dinosaurs, including the large [|sauropods].
 * Conifers:**

Mesozoic Era conifers included redwoods, yews, pines, the monkey puzzle tree (Araucaria), cypress, Pseudofrenelopsis (a Cheirolepidiacean). Towards the end of the Jurassic period, flowering plants evolved and began to overtake conifers as the dominant flora.

Leptocycas was a cycad, a primitive seed plant from the late Triassic period. It was a palm-like tree with a long, woody trunk and tough leaves. It lived in warm climates. This tree was about 4.8 ft (1.5 m) tall. ||
 * Cycadophytes:**

//Williamsonia sewardiana// was a cycadeoid (a bennettitalean). It had a woody stem and simple leaves. || Cycadophytes included the Cycads and Cycadeoids (Bennettitales), plants with woody stems (some erect, some spherical) and very tough leaves. These two groups differ mainly in the way they reproduce: Cycads have separate male and female plants; Cycadeoids do not always. Cycadeoids are now extinct but there are still a few cycads. Some Mesozoic Era Cycads included: Leptocycas, Cycas, Zamia, Dioon, Bowenia, Stangeria, and Microcyas. Some Mesozoic Cycadeoids included: Cycadeoidea, Vardekloeftia, Williamsonia, Williamsoniella, Westersheimia, and Leguminanthus.

Cycadophytes dominated southern areas during the Triassic period and thrived during the Jurassic, but began to decline in the mid-Cretaceous period. Cycadeoids went extinct.

Gingkos (the maidenhair tree, family Gingkoaceae) are deciduous (losing their soft leaves in cold weather) gymnosperms that were common at higher altitudes. Gingkos peaked during the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods. Gingkos are still around today.
 * Gingkos:**


 * Pteridophytes:**

Horsetails were an important source of nutrition for plant-eating dinosaurs. These primitive vascular plants were fast-growing and resilient (they could propagate using underground runners which a grazing dinosaur wouldn't eat). This meant that a hungry dinosaur could eat the plant without killing it, since the plant would regrow from the rhizome (the underground stem). || Pteridophytes are a group of primitive vascular plants that include Lycopods (club mosses), [|Sphenopsids] (horsetails, shown left), and ferns (shown, right). These plants reproduce with spores that germinate only in moist areas; they also reproduce using rhizomes (underground stems). Pteridophytes evolved during the Devonian and were mostly low-growing during the [|Mesozoic Era]. These fast-growing, resilient plants were a source of food for [|plant-eating dinosaurs] that lived in moist areas.

[|Glossopteris], a tree-like seed fern (Pteriosperm) from the Permian through the [|Triassic Period]. It had tongue-shaped leaves and was about 12 ft (3.7 m) tall. Glossopteris was a dominant plant in [|Gondwana] (the southern supercontinent) early in the Triassic period. || Seed ferns (Pteridosperms) had fern-like leaves but bore seeds and not spores. This group included Glossopteris, Dicroidium, Caytonia, Denkania, and Lidgettonia.
 * Seed ferns: **

Seed ferns dominated southern Pangaea during the Triassic period. Seed ferns went extinct during early in the Cretaceous period. Glossopterids went extinct at the end of the Triassic period.

Flowering plants (angiosperms) evolved about 140 million years ago, during the late [|Jurassic period] and dramatically changed the Earth's landscape, quickly taking over most of the ecological niches. These fast-growing, adaptable plants also gave rise to a HUGE boom in the dinosaur world. Most of the dinosaurs that have been found date from the late Cretaceous period, when flowering plants were suppling plant-eating dinosaurs (like hadrosaurs) with plentiful and nutritious food. Some Mesozoic Era angiosperms included magnolias, laurel, barberry, early sycamores, and palms. Grasses may have evolved later.
 * Flowering plants:**


 * THE EVOLUTION OF LAND PLANTS **

The dinosaurs evolved early in the [|Mesozoic Era], during the Triassic period (about 228 million years ago). At the start of the Mesozoic Era, the continents of the Earth were jammed together into the supercontinent of Pangaea; this land mass had a hot, dry interior with many deserts. The polar regions were moist and temperate. During the Mesozoic, Pangaea began breaking apart and the weather changed.
 * PANGAEA AND WEATHER DURING THE MESOZOIC ERA **

[|Seed plants] from the UCMP, Berkeley, CA. [|Plant evolution]from Prof. Tom Herbert at the University of Miami, FL [|Plant Fossil Record] from the International Organisation of Paleobotany [|Links for Paleobotanists] from the Mineralogisches Institut, Universität Würzburg.
 * PALEOBOTANY LINKS **

**ZoomDinosaurs.com** First dinosaurs and mammals |||||| ** [|Jurassic Period] ** Many dinosaurs and the first birds |||||| ** [|Cretaceous Period] ** First flowering plants, the height of the dinosaurs. Ends in huge extinction. || || 248-227 mya || [|**Late**] 227-206 mya || [|**Early**] (Lias) 206-180 mya || [|**Middle**] (Dogger) 180-154 mya || [|**Late**] (Malm) 154-144 mya || [|**Early**] (Neocomian) 144-127 mya || [|**Middle**] (Gallic) 127-89 mya || [|**Late**] (Senonian) 89-65 mya || ||
 * ** [|The Mesozoic Era] ** (248 - 65 million years ago) [|Ages of the Mesozoic Era] ||
 * ** [|Triassic Period] **
 * 248 - 206 mya **
 * 206-144 mya **
 * 144-65 mya **
 * **Early - Middle**

Animals and Plants ** of Jurassic Park **




 * Petrified Forest National Park in Arizona contains hundreds of acres of perfectly preserved logs from an ancient tropical flood plain during the late Triassic Period (over 200 million years ago). The trees of this extinct forest coexisted with dinosaurs. Many of the petrified logs have been assigned to the genus **Araucarioxylon**, a presumed distant relative of **Araucaria**; however, new evidence indicates that these petrified logs represent a broad diversity of conifer species. Streams carried dead logs into this once swampy lowland region where they were buried in sediments rich in volcanic ash. The woody tissue of the logs became impregnated with minerals such as silica and gradually turned into stone. ||


 * Diorama of araucariad forest from 200 million years ago, when all the continents were united into the vast supercontinent Pangea. Whether any logs at Petrified Forest National Park came from trees such as these is unknown at this time. From all the thousands of petrified logs, one can only imagine the extent and diversity of this ancient forest of giant trees. Diorama on display at the Rainbow Forest Museum, Petrified Forest National Park. ||


 * Left: A cone-bearing branch from the Norfolk Island pine (**Araucaria heterophylla**), indigenous to remote Norfolk Island between Australia and New Zealand. Right: Petrified ovulate cone of **Araucaria mirabilis** from Patagonia, Argentina. This extinct species of **Araucaria** dates back to the Jurassic Period (135-180 million years ago), when giant dinosaurs ruled the earth. Although prickles on the cone scales have worn away after millions of years of erosion, the cone is remarkably similar in appearance to modern-day species of **Araucaria**. [Fossil cone from collection of San Diego Gem & Mineral Society.] ||


 * Petrified 170 million-year-old seed cone of **Araucaria mirabilis** from Patagonia ||




 * ** 144-65 ** ** Million Years Ago ** ||


 * The Cretaceous period of the Mesozoic era may have seen more dinosaurs then ever before. The horned Cretaceous dinosaurs appeared, like the Triceratops and Centrosaurus. The armored Ankylosaurus, duckbilled Parasaurolophus, and large carnivore Tyrannosaurus were a few of the quickly evolving dinosaurs. Birds became increasingly numerous & flowering plants were emerging. By the end of the Cretaceous period, all large and small ruling reptiles, except the crocodile went extinct.  ||


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 * // [|Albertosaurus& Corythosaurus] // ||   || ||   || // [|Tyrannosaurusrex] //  ||


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Meteor impact causing dinosaur extinction  ||   || // [|Corythosaurus] //  ||   || // [|Parasaurolophus] //  ||
 * // [|Anatosaurus] //


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 * // [|Carnotaurus] // ||   || // [|Gallimimus] //  ||   || // [|Triceratops] //  ||




 * // [|Monoclonius] // ||   || ||   || // [|Tarbosaurus] //  ||
 * // [|Kronosaurus] // ||   || // [|Pteranodon] //  ||   || ||

Plateosaurus (platty-oh-saw-rus) This dinosaur lived in herds and normally wallked on all four legs. It was a plant-eater and could stand on its back legs to reach leaves on trees. It was one of the first large dinosaurs.

Coelophysis (see-low-fie-sis) This was ibe if tge first meat-eating dinosaurs. It lived around 215 million years ago. It had a slender, lightly built and bird like feet. It probably ate insects, lizards and smaller dinosaurs.

Plesiosaurus (pleesy-oh-saw-rus) This repile sawm slowy and flapped its flippers like a turtle. It fed on fish which it caught with quick movements of its long neck. Plesiosaurus pulled itself onto land to lay its leg.



Dacentrurus da-sen-true-russ Name means:'very spiky tail" Classifiction: Ornithischia,Stegosauria Length 15 ft (4.6m) Time: Late jurassic, 150 million years ago Place: England Portugal, France Diet:plants Details: Through the plant-eating Dacebtrurus had the same general proportions as the 25 foot-long (8m) Stegosaurus, its plate and spike configuration was quite different. Dacentrurus carried two rows of small plates and two rows of long, paired spines along it back. where the plates ended and the spikes began is uncertain, due to limited fossil evidence. A possible Dacentrurus egg was discovered in Portugal.

Nodocephalosaurus no-soh-seff-a-loh-sor-uhss name means: knob headed lizard Classification: Ornithischia, Ankylosauria Length: 15ft (4.6 m) Time : Late Cretaceous Place: New Mexico, U.S. Diet: plants Details Named for the many bulb shaped lumps on its skull this medium size armored dinosaur had very unusaul decorations on its skull. Nodocephalosaurus was a primitive armored dinosaur, perhaps similar to the Asian Saichania. It was named in 1999, from incompleate remains.

Megaraptor meg-a-rap-tore Name means: big plunderer Classification: Saurischia, Theropda, basal Coelurosauria