About Mesozoic

The Mesozoic Era was the time from 248 million to 65 million years ago. During the Mesozoic, the Earth was very different than it is now. The climate was warmer, the seasons were very mild, the sea level was higher, and there was no polar ice. Even the shape of the continents on Earth was different; the continents were jammed together at the beginning of the Mesozoic Era, forming the supercontinent of Pangaea, but would start breaking apart toward the middle of the Mesozoic Era.

Mesozoic Climate

IT is unknow for sure what the climate of the Mesocoiz era was, but evidence suggest that mammal were endothermic.

Reefs are foun no father north or south during the Mesozoic than today. Vertebrate fossila are found much farther than the feef are. It is unclear if seasonal migration occurred of if the mammalswere able to in inhabit colder northern climates

The Three time periods Of the Mesozoic Era. Triassic (245-208 Million Years Ago), the Jurassic (208-146 Million Years Ago), and the Cretaceous (146-65 Million Years Ago).

During the Triassic period, all of the earth's continents were joined together into a vast landmass called Pangaea (which was itself surrounded by an enormous ocean called Panthalassa). There were as yet no polar ice caps, and the climate was hot and dry, punctuated by violent monsoons

The Jurassic period witnessed the breakup of the Pangaean supercontinent into two big pieces, Gondwana in the south and Laurasia in the north, as well as the formation of intra-continental lakes and rivers that opened new evolutionary niches for aquatic and terrestrial animals. The climate was hot and humid, with steady rainfall, ideal conditions for the explosive spread of lush, green plants.

Cretaceous

During the early Cretaceous period, the inexorable breakup of the Pangaean supercontinent continued, with the first outlines of modern North and South America, Europe, Asia and Africa taking shape. Conditions were as hot and muggy as in the Jurassic, with the added twist of rising sea levels and the spread of endless swamps--yet another ecological niche in which dinosaurs (and other prehistoric life) could prosper.

Life in the Triassic Period

Animals and Plants included:

the therapsids (mammal-like reptiles), archosaurs (from which the first dinosaurs like Herrerasaurus and Eoraptor evolved, as well as the first prehistoric crocodiles and pterosaurs), and primitive reptiles called pelycosaurs (the most famous of which was Dimetrodon). It was during the late Triassic period that the mammal-like reptiles evolved into the first mammals.

Marine Life Because the Permian Extinction depopulated the world's oceans, the Triassic period was ripe for the rise of early marine reptiles like Placodus and Nothosaurus. The vast Panthalassan Ocean was soon restocked with new species of prehistoric fish, as well as simple animals like corals and cephalopods.

These era included: Plants- Hexacorallia,Animals- the Archosauromorph, Archosaurs,and Diapsid Reptiles.

Animals included fish, amphibians, lizards, insects, mammals and dinosaurs. Towards the end of the period, the first birds evolved. Dinosaurs were, however, the dominating animals in the Jurassic.

In Australia, freshwater lakes held long-necked dinosaurs which are amongst the earliest dinosaurs in the world.

The plant-eating sauropod Rhoteosaurus brownei, which was found in 1924 in south Queensland, was about 17m long and estimated to weight about 20 tonnes.

There are many other dinosaurs found in Australia, but they are all from Cretaceous Period.

Ray Fish, Sharks, Teleosts, Ichtyosaurs, Plesioaurs, Mosasaurs, Baculites, Straight-shelled ammonite, flourished in the seas, and saw the first radiation of marine diatoms in the oceans.

Links

http://www.cotf.edu/ete/modules/msese/earthsysflr/mesozoic.html

http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/dinosaurs/mesozoic/

http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/dinosaurs/mesozoic/triassic/

http://www.fossilmuseum.net/Paleobiology/Mesozoic_Paleobiology.htm

http://www.gondwananet.com/jurassic-plants-and-animals.html