Read the passage and answer the questions that follow by choosing the correct answer a, b, c or d. -> only one answer is correct. Books about palaeontology usually have a good deal to say about fossil animals and very little about fossil plants, much to the distress of palaeobotanists. For both on land and sea the most significant event in the history of the earth has been the evolution of vegetation. Blue algae and other water plants created the basis for the existence of animal life in the seas and lakes. Plants were the first organisms to conquer the dry land and they made it habitable for the animals that followed them. plants alone provided the animal world with food, shelter and diverse environments, thereby establishing the preconditions for life and evolution. changes in vegetarion, the transformation of a swampy primeval jungle into an arid prairie, or a park like savannah into a sun drenched cactus desert, for example, caused the extinction of whole groups of animals and the rise of other groups. Even the conquest of the air would have been impossible without plants. An atmosphere conducive to animal life arose only after the land had already been occupied by relatively high types of plants. 96. As a rule, books on palaeontology... a. say nothing about fossil plants b. ignore fossil animals c. give inadequate emphasis to fossil plants d. are written by palaeobotanists 97. The development of animal life... a. had its basis in plant life b. came about only in the land c. was independent of plants d. was hindered by vegetation 98. According to the author... a. plants preceded animals on dry land b. plants followed animals on dry land c. animals were the first organisms to appear on dry land d. animals provided the world with food 99. Changes in vegetation... a. affected the patterns of animal life b. caused the extinction of the cactus c. drastically affected the climate d. had no effect on animals 100. Relatively high types of plants... a. created animal life b. made the air suitable for animal life c. polluted the atmosphere d. conquered the air