I am looking for information on evolution of sporing plants (ferns,
mosses, mushrooms) on land. We have both fossils and living
representatives of flowering plants having different means of
propagating their seeds and increase success rate of their seeds. The
surviving sporing plants that we know seem to have a monotonous
history, that means Throw spores in the air and let chance do it's
task but was it always like that ? For example, were spores always
very small, or were some of them bigger and had a greater reserve of
food and water for dry climate ? Do we have fossilized records of
spores being swallowed by grazing animals and made benefit from the
animal manure for a better success in germinating ? (Just like many
plants which make an edible fruit for propagating seeds that way,
although fruits in sporing plants might be absent.)