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First trees - Artist view

auteur: Walter B. Myers/Novapix

référence: t-glb91-03000

Image Size 300 DPI: 32 * 24 cm

385 million years ago, near the end of the Devonian period, the first trees began to populate the Earth. Considered the first modern trees, the Archaeopteris were a part of the Earth's primitive forests for the next 25 million years. Unlike the trees we know today, Archaeopteris was in fact a primitive fern that reproduced by means of spores instead of seeds. While terrestrial plants had been around for 130 million years prior to Archaeopteris, this was the first plant to solve the biomechanical challenges of supporting and nurturing ever larger sizes, enabling these Archaeopteris to grow to heights of 70 feet and more, over twice the height of the Calamites. In this image, four stages of the life of the Archaeopteris are illustrated. On the far left nearest our vantage point is a young, 20-foot Archaeopteris, and in the center at twice that height is a medium-aged Archaeopteris, and on the right is a fully mature specimen. Furthest right is the collapsed and decaying trunk of a mature tree, a contribution the biomass that will eventually become the oil, coal and natural gas we exploit today.

Keywords for this photo:

DEVONIAN - EARTH - HISTORY OF EARTH - ILLUSTRATION - INSECT - PALEOZOIC - PLANT - TREE - WATER -