The Paleozoic Era was the era of evolution which lasted from 544 million years ago to 245 million years ago. Following the Pre-Cambrian Eon, the Paleozoic period started the biggest biological change for all organisms on earth and for many millions of years to follow. The Paleozoic Era saw the formation of the supercontinent Gondwana. The supercontinent had South America and Africa with Antarctica, Australia, India at the bottom right of the South America-Africa combination. This supercontinent was located at the southern hemisphere of earth. In addition to Gondwana, there was also the supercontinent Laurasia which was North America with Eurasia at the northern hemisphere. By the end of the era, Gondwana and Laurasia began to separate and form the continents in the Mesozoic era.
As I have stated previously, the Paleozoic Era had the biggest biological change. The Carboniferous period produced a lot of carbon which in turn, made many plants. Progymnosperms look very similar to gymnosperms and conifers, except that the progymnosperms create spores to reproduce. There were also glossopteris which lived from 300 MYA to 200 MYA. These were plants that contained wood and had tongue shaped leaves. Cycads are plants with a crown of large leaves with a thick trunk and fairly resemble small palm trees. They are very scarce and are not as common than they were in the Paleozoic-Mesozoic era.
Along with plants, there were animals. However, they were aquatic because the Paleozoic Era was a major biological change mostly for aquatic organisms and was only the beginning for evolution for them. The most common one was the trilobite which was the most earliest anthropod you could find in earth's history and looked like a very fat centipede. It first appeared during the early Paleozoic and went extinct during the mid Paleozoic era. There was also the blastoid echinoderms which resembled starfish and like the starfish, lived underwater. They went extinct during the late Paleozoic era (Permian Period) due to the Triassic extinction which saw the largest mass extinction in the world. Branchiopods were the earliest versions of plankton and as such were like plankton. However, along with the blastoid echinoderms, they went extinct during the Triassic extinction.
During the Paleozoic Era, the climate was rather warm. Throughout the early to late Paleozoic Era, it was warm due to the fact that many glaciers had melted from the late Pre-Cambrian era. However, there was a small bump in climate during the Devonian period which may have occurred due to the fast evaporation rates, but went back down as the Carboniferous period took over. The last period, the Permian, saw a massive spike in temperature. This happened because of the formation of Pangea. When landmasses stuck together, it created mountains, but gave opportunity for volcanoes to form as well, which may have led to the Triassic extinction. The noticeable geological changes were first seen during the Ordovician period during the formation of Gondwana and Laurasia which created the Paleo-Tethys, Pathalassic and Iapetus Ocean. During the late Ordovician period, rapid sea-floor spreading occurred which created the Rheic Ocean between Laurasia and Gondwana. The Permian period saw the beginning of the formation of Pangea which meant that landmasses came together to form mountains and volcanoes.
The Paleozoic Era was the era that began life. It was warm which made it suitable for basic life. The formation of Gondwana and Laurasia helped that happen. During the Paleozoic Era, plants such as progymnosperms, glossopteris and cycads along with the many marine animals such as trilobytes, blastoid echinoderms and branchipods had the chance to evolve and some even became some of the animals we know today. The era saw the beginning of Pangea, which meant that landmasses came together. This formed mountains and began forming volcanoes. Although the era ended with mass extinction, it made way for the Mesozoic Era, where the spotlight shined on the dinosaurs.
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