Question

Arborescent lycopods, horsetails and ferns dominated land during?
A. Silurian period
B. Devonian period
C. Carboniferous period
D. Triassic period

Answer 1

Hint: In this period, several megaflora dominated the earth. During this period, vast tropical rainforests collapsed suddenly as the climate changed from hot and humid to cool and arid. This was likely caused by intense glaciation and a drop in sea levels.

Complete step by step answer: The Paleozoic era is divided into 6 geological periods where the Carboniferous period spanned for about 60 million years. Arborescent lycopods, horsetails and ferns dominated land during this period of the palaeozoic era. The word Paleozoic is a word derived from Greek literature. It refers to ancient life. This era was succeeded by the Mesozoic era (middle life) and then by the Cenozoic (new life) era; three of which constitute the phanerozoic eon. Preceding the Mesozoic era, during the Paleozoic era is when the earth experienced a boom of evolution and appearances of new fauna, such as arthropods, amphibians, molluscs, fish, etc.
The Carboniferous lycophytes are related to club-moss species we know of today. But unlike now, they were huge trees with trunks 30 meters high. These included Lepidodendron, Lepidophloios and Sigillaria. The Cladoxylopsids were large trees that were ancestors of ferns, first arising in the Carboniferous period. Before the end of the Carboniferous Period, an extinction event occurred. On land, this event is referred to as the Carboniferous Rainforest Collapse (CRC).

Note: The Carboniferous period is the end of the Paleozoic era succeeded by the Permian period. It was during this period that several megaflora dominated the earth. Several species of ferns we know today emerged during this period. The Silurian and Devonian period also belong to the Paleozoic era but are towards the beginning of the Paleozoic era, where life on land was only slowly emerging. The Triassic is a period within the Mesozoic era where dinosaurs and reptiles dominated the earth as megafauna and were known as the age of dinosaurs.