Cited by 82Paleontology and Stratigraphy of FossilsMycorrhizal Fungi and Plant InteractionsGeological and Geochemical Analysis

Constraining the role of early land plants in Palaeozoic weathering and global cooling

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Quirk, Joe, Leake, Jonathan R., Johnson, David A., Taylor, Lyla L., Saccone, Loredana, Beerling, David J.·2015·Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences

Abstract

How the colonization of terrestrial environments by early land plants over 400 Ma influenced rock weathering, the biogeochemical cycling of carbon and phosphorus, and climate in the Palaeozoic is uncertain. Here we show experimentally that mineral weathering by liverworts—an extant lineage of early land plants—partnering arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi, like those in 410 Ma-old early land plant fossils, amplified calcium weathering from basalt grains threefold to sevenfold, relative to plant-free controls. Phosphate weathering by mycorrhizal liverworts was amplified 9–13-fold over plant-free controls, compared with fivefold to sevenfold amplification by liverworts lacking fungal symbionts. Etching and trenching of phyllosilicate minerals increased with AM fungal network size and atmospheric CO 2 concentration. Integration of grain-scale weathering rates over the depths of liverwort rhizoids and mycelia (0.1 m), or tree roots and mycelia (0.75 m), indicate early land plants with shallow anchorage systems were probably at least 10-fold less effective at enhancing the total weathering flux than later-evolving trees. This work challenges the suggestion that early land plants significantly enhanced total weathering and land-to-ocean fluxes of calcium and phosphorus, which have been proposed as a trigger for transient dramatic atmospheric CO 2 sequestration and glaciations in the Ordovician.

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Crossref · 10.1098/rspb.2015.1115

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  • In the absence of mycorrhizal symbionts, the Terreneuvian P weathering rate would have been lower than today.

    “In the absence of mycorrhizal symbionts that amplify P weathering by plants on the continents today, the Terreneuvian P weathering rate would have been lower than today (54).”

    From Atmosphere-ocean oxygen and productivity dynamics during early animal radiations (2019) · cites this paper as [54]

    The Abstract reports greater phosphate weathering by mycorrhizal than non-mycorrhizal liverworts, and the Conclusion suggests early land floras had relatively small effects on land-to-ocean phosphorus fluxes. The paper does not establish a Terreneuvian phosphorus-weathering rate or compare that rate with today's, so the historical comparison is not supported. (LLM, conf=0.84)

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Authors
Quirk, J., Leake, J. R., Johnson, D. A., Taylor, L. L., Saccone, L., & Beerling, D. J.
Affiliations
University of Sheffield (GB)
Corresponding author
Quirk, Joe
Venue
Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
Published
2015-08-22
Volume
282
Issue
1813
Pages
20151115
ISSN
  • 0080-4649 (ISSN-L)
  • 0962-8452
  • 1471-2954
OpenAlex
W2225626096
Cited by
82
References
41
Citations by year
2026: 2 · 2025: 7 · 2024: 9 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 9 · 2021: 10 · 2020: 7 · 2019: 11 · 2018: 4 · 2017: 8 · 2016: 11
FWCI
5.81
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Proceedings of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • White Rose Research Online (University of Leeds, The University of Sheffield, University of York) (acceptedVersion)
Funders
Natural Environment Research Council (NE/J007471/1)
Topics
  • Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Paleontology › Paleontology and Stratigraphy of Fossils
  • Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Plant Science › Mycorrhizal Fungi and Plant Interactions
  • Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Geophysics › Geological and Geochemical Analysis
Keywords
early land plants, liverworts, arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, mineral weathering, global cooling, Ordovician glaciation, atmospheric CO2 sequestration, carbon cycle, phosphorus cycling, phyllosilicates, basalt weathering, plant-fungal symbiosis
MeSH terms
Carbon Dioxide, Biological Evolution, Evolution, Planetary, Mycorrhizae, Marchantia, Climate Change

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