The correct order of evolution is C- Non Vascular, Vascular seedless, Gymnosperms, Angiosperms.

A major trend in plant evolution has been the increasing dominance of the sporophyte. Chlorophyta (green algae), the ancestors of land plants, have a dominant gametophyte and greatly reduced sporophyte.

The evolution of land plants (embryophytes) from their freshwater ancestors involved many major innovations, most of which are obvious adaptations to the radically different requirements for structural support, uptake of water, prevention of desiccation, and gas exchange in a terrestrial environment.

List three key evolutionary innovations that allowed plants to succeed and diversify on land….Terms in this set (29)

• desiccation.
• gravity.
• transport of water.
• gaseous environment.
• transport of nutrients (sugar)

Angiosperms (flowering plants) and gymnosperms (mostly conifers) produce pollen. The pollen grain is the male gametophyte of plants and is analogous to sperm cells in animals; that is, it is needed for fertilization of the egg cell found in the female gametophyte of these plants.

gametophyte

In bryophytes (mosses and liverworts), the dominant generation is haploid, so that the gametophyte comprises what we think of as the main plant. The opposite is true for tracheophytes (vascular plants), in which the diploid generation is dominant and the sporophyte comprises the main plant.

The nutritive tissues inside the seed are actually the haploid body cells of the female gametophyte. The seed also contains the developing diploid sporophyte, the little embryonic conifer. The outer wrapping of the seed, the tough and protective seed coat, is formed from the diploid cells of the parent sporophyte.

“There are three parts of a seed.” “A bean or seed consists of a seed coat, an embryo, and a cotyledon.” “The embryo is the tiny plant protected by the seed coat.”

Seed plants evolved a number of adaptations that made it possible to reproduce without water. As a result, seed plants were wildly successful. The seed protects and nourishes the embryo and gives it a huge head start in the “race” of life. Many seeds can wait to germinate until conditions are favorable for growth.

The oldest carbon-14-dated seed that has grown into a viable plant was Silene stenophylla (narrow-leafed campion), an Arctic flower native to Siberia. Radiocarbon dating has confirmed an age of 31,800 ±300 years for the seeds.

Plants do the opposite—they breathe in CO2 and breathe out oxygen during photosynthesis. Because angiosperms photosynthesize so much, they are some of the best oxygen makers around. Angiosperms have been so successful because of their compact DNA and cells.

flowering plants

Orchidaceae The Orchid Family. Over 25,000 species (over 100,000 hybrids and cultivars are known). This is the largest family of plants.

“The flowering plants are the most important group of plants on Earth and now we finally know why they have been so successful,” they say.

mosses

Sponges were among the earliest animals. While chemical compounds from sponges are preserved in rocks as old as 700 million years, molecular evidence points to sponges developing even earlier.