Plants and Animals in The Mesozoic Era

The mesozoic era, some people like to call it “age of the reptiles”, is an era from 251-65.5 million years ago, where animals, dinosaurs, birds, and flowers came into the picture. This era, because it was so long, was broken into three periods: Triassic (251-199.6 mya,) Jurassic (199.6-145.5 mya,) and Cretaceous (145.5-65.5 mya). During the mesozoic era, the flora and fauna changed tremendously. Not only did that change, but the climate also changed. The seasons were more mild, the sea levels were higher, and the shape of the continents began to shift. Eventually, the continents jammed together forming the supercontinent known as Pangea. After Pangea, the Mesozoic era came to a close with another extinction. Many dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals died out, but over the whole era, there was an abundance of reptiles, flowers, many new life forms.

One major form of life during the Mesozoic era was the conifer tree, and all of the plants that were related to the conifer trees such as cycads and other gymnosperms. Conifers were evergreen trees that grew slowly and were most abundant when the dinosaurs were alive and thriving on Earth. Since these trees were here when dinosaurs were at their peak, these trees were most likely food for some dinosaurs, probably herbivores (plant-eating dinosaurs). Some types of conifers were similar to conifers that are common today, such as redwoods, pines, and cypress trees. There were also some flowering plants like we have everywhere now, but they did not evolve until near the end of the Jurassic period, when flowering plants began to overtake conifers as the dominant flora. These flowering plants changed the Earth's landscape by being so fast-growing and adaptable. These and many other plants gave rise to a huge change in the dinosaur and animal world in the Mesozoic era.

The mesozoic era, corresponding with it’s name meaning “middle animals,” was an era where the animal life really changed and advanced from the previous era, Paleozoic. The most popular animals during this time were dinosaurs. The first period of the mesozoic era, the triassic period, was when dinosaurs advanced most and first started evolving. The next period, the jurassic period, was when dinosaurs had pretty much taken over and spread throughout Earth. Also in this period, the first type of birds came to life. The first birds were dinosaur-like, and didn’t advance to become any more like the birds we see today in this era, but several dinosaurs had a resemblance to modern day birds. Coral reefs began to form and sea lizards evolved to begin to look like “swimming lizards” (Farabee, .) Fish were getting slightly more similar to modern day fish we see today, and cephalopods, ceratites spread, but were later replaced by the ammonites. The mesozoic era was very productive and lots of new animals, plants, and other things that are somewhat similar to the forms of life we see today were created and they evolved in this era.

References: Enchanted Learning. (n.d.). The Mesozoic Era. Retrieved September 24, 2014, from http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/dinosaurs/mesozoic/

J.A, M.J, D. A. D. (n.d.). The Mesozoic age of the dinosaurs. Retrieved September 24, 2014, from http://www2.estrellamountain.edu/faculty/farabee/BIOBK/biobookpaleo5.html

Mann, D. A. C. (n.d.). Fossils facts and finds. Retrieved September 24, 2014, from http://www.fossils-facts-and-finds.com/mesozoic_era.html

University of California of Paleontology. (n.d.). The Mesozoic Era. Retrieved September 24, 2014, from http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/mesozoic/mesozoic.php