In the Carboniferous period (another name - Carbon), most of the land was a two huge continent: Laurasia and Gondwana.In the early period the climate was practically anywhere tropical or subtropical.Huge areas were occupied by shallow seas.Extensive low-lying coastal plains are constantly flooded and there formed the swamp.
In this humid and hot climate of rapidly spreading trees from tree ferns.These forests have begun to allocate a lot of oxygen, and soon the content of this gas in the atmosphere has reached today's level.Some trees reach a height of forty-five meters.Plants rushed up so quickly that the invertebrate animals that live in the soil, do not have time to time to eat and then to decompose them.As a result, the vegetation becomes more and more.
It is in the Carboniferous period begin to form peat deposits.In the marshes, they quickly went into the water, forming a major coal deposits.Thanks Carboniferous people can mine coal and produce from it a variety of substances (eg, coal tar).
in coal swamp were thickets of horsetails and Calamity, a large number of huge trees (moss and sigillaria included).These conditions were ideal environment for Habitat first amphibians - krinodona and Ichthyostega, for arthropods (spiders, cockroaches, dragonflies meganeura).
While land mastered not only plants, but also other organisms.First of all, it's coming out of the water arthropods, which later gave rise to a group of insects.Since it began its march across the planet.Now there are about one million species known to modern science.According to some estimates, about thirty millions of scientists have yet to discover.
flora and fauna of the Carboniferous
In the Carboniferous period the formation of coal, which formed due to the fact that the fallen trees were unable to decompose and went under the water.There they were turned into peat and coal.Among the vegetation at the time was dominated by ferns up to forty-five meters, with leaves more than a meter long.Besides trees grew huge club mosses and horsetails.The trees had a very shallow root system.For this reason, all around them was littered with tree trunks.This forest was wet and warm.Ferns reached the height of the modern tree.They can exist only in a humid environment.In the Carboniferous period there are the first seed plants.
Many swamps and creeks have become ideal breeding grounds for early amphibians and countless insects.There were the first spiders.Among the tall trees were flying huge butterflies, flying cockroaches, mayflies and dragonflies.The slowly rotting vegetation lived giant centipedes (centipede and millipedes).His eyes were bulging and amphibians located on top of a flat, broad head.This helped arthropods catch food.Soon, evolution has created gigantic amphibians (up to eight meters in length), as well as creatures without legs, reminiscent of modern snakes.Large organisms are preferred to continue hunting in the water, and their fellow minor gradually moved onto the land.
appear first reptiles - mikrozavry that looked like small lizards with short and sharp teeth, they broke the hard covers of insects.Their skin has a moisture permeable and enable them to conduct their lives outside the reservoirs.And the food they had more than enough: centipedes, worms and many insects.Reptiles gradually there is no need to return to water to lay their eggs.They began to lay eggs in leathery shell.The Cubs are small copies of their parents.
