[commentary on rockv's progress in the ER]
He seems to be wanting someone to tell him about plant life, and that he has a 'Masters of Science in _______' and has 'studied evolution all his life', and furthermore is 'warning us that when christ returns it's not our fault when the holy God comes that we didn't believe in the Creationism all around us..' The latter statement implies that we are condemned simply for not believing in the Creation story, but rather in the 'big bang' and repeatedly mentioned things in this post.
I will add that I have Jesus by the throat with my 'almighty sword' just in case he decides to damn any of you.
[1]I guess he needs me to explain so he can then be a contributing member of this forum. I posted a link to wikipedia. I will now elaborate, according to what I can understand, on the evolution of plant life, which was btw clearly outlined by another member in the ER, of which the post was removed to allow rockv to answer in his own words. I have a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration, Major in Computer Information Systems. This means I felt it unnecessary to get a Computer Science degree, and instead opted to learn a broader array of topics such as Statistics, Finance, Accounting, Management, Strategic Management, Network Administration, Database Administration, and a specialty in Computer Programming and Programming Languages...
Now I will continue..
[wikipedia - the evolution of plants - google search]
The evolution of plants has resulted in increasing levels of complexity,
Exactly according to my hypothesis stated here and elsewhere that just as you can only go forward in time and not backwards (see Steven Hawkings show as a reference to time travel possibilities and paradoxes related to it), plant life has evolved on a timescale going
forward in complexity and progressing as a common form of life. I take that point to be interesting.
from the earliest algal mats, through bryophytes, lycopods, ferns to the complex gymnosperms and angiosperms of today.
I did not learn these terms, so I'll have to look these up...
algal mats - basically algae, or microbial 'mats'. Interesting. We had a discussion elsewhere where I said the most commonly found type of life in the universe, taking the simplest forms, hasn't yet had a chance to evolve much past bacteria or algae. This confirms my claim in that other thread. Good..
Bryophyte is a traditional name used to refer to all embryophytes (land plants) that do not have true vascular tissue and are therefore called 'non-vascular plants'.[1] Some bryophytes do have specialized tissues for the transport of water; however since these do not contain lignin, they are not considered to be true vascular tissue.[2] Currently bryophytes are thought not to be a natural or monophyletic group; however the name is convenient and remains in use as a collective term for mosses, hornworts, and liverworts.
As you can see, here is possibly the case for when plant life evolved to survive on land. To land, moss is similar to algae in water, AFAIK... correct me if I'm wrong..
The Division Lycopodiophyta (sometimes called Lycophyta or Lycopods) is a tracheophyte subdivision of the Kingdom Plantae. It is the oldest extant (living) vascular plant division at around 410 million years old,[4]:99 and includes some of the most "primitive" extant species. These species reproduce by shedding spores and have macroscopic alternation of generations, although some are homosporous while others are heterosporous. Members of Lycopodiophyta bear a protostele, and the sporophyte generation is dominant.[5] They differ from all other vascular plants in having microphylls, leaves that have only a single vascular trace (vein) rather than the much more complex megaphylls found in ferns and seed plants.
..had to read on, this stuff is particularly interesting things that I did not know. My oldest brother, who has just obtained a PhD in ecology, could probably tell me all about it, but eh, I can still rely on wikipedia to learn..
The members of this division have a long evolutionary history, and fossils are abundant worldwide, especially in coal deposits. In fact, most known genera are extinct. The Silurian species Baragwanathia longifolia represents the earliest identifable Lycopodiophyta, while some Cooksonia seem to be related.
Fossils ascribed to the Lycopodiophyta first appear in the Silurian period, along with a number of other vascular plants. Phylogenetic analysis places them at the base of the vascular plants; they are distinguished by their microphylls and by transverse dehiscence of their sporangia (as contrasted with longitudinal in other vascular plants). Sporangia of living species are borne on the upper surfaces of microphylls (called sporophylls). In some groups, these sporophylls are clustered into strobili.
During the Carboniferous Period, tree-like Lycopodiophyta (such as Lepidodendron) formed huge forests that dominated the landscape. The complex ecology of these tropical rainforests collapsed during the mid Pennsylvanian due to a change in climate.[9]
Unlike modern trees, leaves grew out of the entire surface of the trunk and branches, but would fall off as the plant grew, leaving only a small cluster of leaves at the top. Their remains formed many fossil coal deposits. In Fossil Park, Glasgow, Scotland, fossilized Lycopodiophyta trees can be found in sandstone. The trees are marked with diamond-shaped scars where they once had leaves.
It seems most of this type of plant life is only preserved in fossil records. It represents the earliest known form of plant that supposedly reproduced through some other method than basic cell-splitting. I would assume this is akin to when sea and land life started reproducing through eggs. We all know that in a more complex organism, that organism will have living cells that die off and reproduce simply by replication. But replicating the entire organism required another reproductive step... this seems to indicate one such step. A little confused at this point, but I'm not a biologist, and I can't digest so much information in 5 minutes. But, since this is mainly only recorded in fossil records, that limits my understanding of it..
A fern is any one of a group of about 12,000 species of plants belonging to the botanical group known as Pteridophyta.[3] Unlike mosses, they have xylem and phloem (making them vascular plants). They have stems, leaves, and roots like other vascular plants. Ferns reproduce via spores and have neither seeds nor flowers.
This makes what I previously did not know perfectly clear now. The fern was the next step in this plant-life evolutionary process. 12,000 known species is a remarkable count, so I will note that. Stems, leaves, and roots are common characteristics of most plant life we would recognize today. But like their predecessors, they reproduce via spores, something I thought only things like (the extremely tasty and delicious!) morel mushrooms did...
The gymnosperms are a group of seed-producing plants that includes conifers, cycads, Ginkgo, and Gnetales. The term "gymnosperm" comes from the Greek word gymnospermos (????????????), meaning "naked seeds", after the unenclosed condition of their seeds (called ovules in their unfertilized state). Their naked condition stands in contrast to the seeds or ovules of flowering plants (angiosperms), which are enclosed during pollination. Gymnosperm seeds develop either on the surface of scale- or leaf-like appendages of cones, or at the end of short stalks (Ginkgo).
I remember hearing about conifers at some point during an Associate of Arts degree in General Education during a class in biology. I remember nothing else about it except that maybe we were studying it for photosynthesis. Not sure there on why I remember hearing that name. Perhaps my oldest brother uses it often..
This subgroup possesses the likely first type of seed-bearing group, a further enhancement to reproduction of plant life. This type of seed is said to be 'naked', meaning they are not enclosed by a casing or shell. Interesting - I did not know there were seeds that weren't enclosed. I can think of my favorite nuts, berries, fruit, and vegetables, but I was assuming those were all encased. I must be thinking of the next stage..
The gymnosperms and angiosperms together comprise the spermatophytes or seed plants. By far the largest group of living gymnosperms are the conifers (pines, cypresses, and relatives), followed by cycads, Gnetales (Gnetophyta, Ephedra and Welwitschia), and Ginkgo (a single living species).
Ah - now I know why I remember this. These are like pine trees and such. I kept hearing about junipers from my brother. It's a type of tree that is overgrowing Texas' rangelands due to being overdominant, likely introduced by the desire to grow and sell christmas trees...
He hammers about junipers all the time - he says it provides no benefit to animal or bird habitat, and is a harmful agent to introduce into another ecosystem. So he basically wants to irradicate junipers in North America. I can sense his frustration on the subject all the time. It reproduces by dropping its seeds (the pine tree's cone things), especially and specifically when it burns to a certain temperature. This is seen in Yellowstone National Park. These guys do prescribed burns to protect the habitat - that is my brother's speciality. It's interesting that this type of seed 'opens up' and deposits into the soil at certain temperatures, and he commonly states that Indians used to burn acres and acres of land all across the midwest and southern regions..
The flowering plants (angiosperms), also known as Angiospermae or Magnoliophyta, are the most diverse group of land plants.[citation needed] Angiosperms are seed-producing plants like the gymnosperms and can be distinguished from the gymnosperms by a series of synapomorphies (derived characteristics). These characteristics include flowers, endosperm within the seeds, and the production of fruits that contain the seeds.
The ancestors of flowering plants diverged from gymnosperms around 245–202 million years ago, and the first flowering plants known to exist are from 140 million years ago. They diversified enormously during the Lower Cretaceous and became widespread around 100 million years ago, but replaced conifers as the dominant trees only around 60–100 million years ago.
And now we are to flowering plants. It is my assumption that most veggies, fruits, nuts, and berries fall into this category, as they usually produce a 'flower' before producing the resulting 'thingy' .. excuse any sarcasm - I may be making an incorrect assumption. Flowering plants are pollinated by insects, like bees. The decline of bees recently, as unexpected and expected as it is, may be a drastic disturbance in flowering plants..
However, here is the evolution of plant life, as we know it, in order, simply by following just the brief descriptions in my post pointing to wikipedia. I learned a little bit in the past 15 minutes looking into this. Now I think I understand my PhD-edimicated brother a little bit better, and now I know why my twin had such a fascination with plant life or biology. They both love this kind of stuff.
As for me, my attraction was math instead of science. Now all I can do is read about it online and watch it on shows. As fascinating as it is to me now, it's too late to make a career change, and I'm probably in a good career for me anyway..
See how simple that is? Now it's your turn, rockv. You will not be banned for doing a little research. You can still post in this forum - people like a good open discussion....
[1] supernatural sarcasm, of course..
