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Land plants evolved from a group of freshwater green algae, perhaps as early as 850 mya, [3] but algae-like plants might have evolved as early as 1 billion years ago. [2] The closest living relatives of land plants are the charophytes, specifically Charales; if modern Charales are similar to the distant ancestors they share with land plants, this means that the land plants evolved from a ...
The group consists of numerous unrelated plants that have convergently evolved. Sometimes, the widely distributed genus Rhizophora is referred to as the true mangroves. Pistia, a genus with one species that is native to tropical environments and has further extended its range as an introduced species. Phragmites is a genus of plants known as reeds.
The streptophyte algae (i.e. excluding the land plants) have around 122 genera; they adapted to fresh water very early in their evolutionary history and have not spread back into marine environments. [28] [29] [30] Some time during the Ordovician, streptophytes invaded the land and began the evolution of the embryophyte land plants. [31]
Sphenophyllum was a slender climbing plant with whorls of leaves, which was probably related both to the calamites and the modern horsetails. Cordaites, a tall plant (6 to over 30 meters) with strap-like leaves, was related to the cycads and conifers; the catkin-like inflorescence, which bore yew-like berries, is called Cardiocarpus. These ...
Wetlands make up about 5-8% of Earth's terrestrial land surface but contain about 20-30% of the planet's 2500 Gt soil carbon stores. [49] Peatlands contain the highest amounts of soil organic carbon of all wetland types. [50] Wetlands can become sources of carbon, rather than sinks, as the decomposition occurring within the ecosystem emits ...
Wetlands exist on every continent, except Antarctica. [19] The water in wetlands is either freshwater, brackish or saltwater. [18] The main types of wetland are defined based on the dominant plants and the source of the water. For example, marshes are wetlands dominated by emergent herbaceous vegetation such as reeds, cattails and sedges.
the most widespread of all wetland types in the world, representing 50 to 70% of global wetlands. They cover over 4 million square kilometres [1.5 million square miles] or 3% of the land and freshwater surface of the planet. In these ecosystems are found one third of the world's soil carbon and 10% of global freshwater resources.
A vascular plant begins from a single celled zygote, formed by fertilisation of an egg cell by a sperm cell. From that point, it begins to divide to form a plant embryo through the process of embryogenesis. As this happens, the resulting cells will organize so that one end becomes the first root while the other end forms the tip of the shoot.