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Cited by 82Paleontology and Stratigraphy of FossilsEarth Systems and Cosmic EvolutionBiocrusts and Microbial Ecology

Could land‐based early photosynthesizing ecosystems have bioengineered the planet in mid‐Palaeozoic times?

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Edwards, Dianne, Cherns, Lesley, Raven, John A.·2015·Palaeontology
DOI 10.1111/pala.12187
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Abstract

The Ordovician and Silurian periods were times of major geological activity as regards palaeogeography, volcanism and climate change, the last of these evidenced by a series of cooling episodes and glaciations that climaxed in the Hirnantian (Late Ordovician). The presence of cryptospores in the Darriwilian (Middle Ordovician) marked the advent of higher plants on land. A critical survey of direct (mega‐ and microfossils) and some indirect evidence in succeeding rocks indicates the presence of algae, Bacteria, Cyanobacteria, Fungi, probable lichens, cryptophytes and basal tracheophytes. Similar associations of photosynthesizers and decomposers occur today in cryptogamic covers (CCs), for example biological crusts, except that bryophytes replace cryptophytes (basal embryophytes) and tracheophytes are absent. Thus, extant CCs, which make significant contributions today to global carbon and nitrogen fixation and prevention of erosion, provide an excellent analogue for the impacts of early land vegetation on both lithosphere and atmosphere. As a prerequisite to assessing impacts in Ordovician–Silurian times, with particular consideration of parameters used by climate modellers, the effects of a number of abiotic factors on the growth and survival of extant cryptogamic ground covers and their environmental impacts are reviewed. Factors include photosynthetically active radiation, ultraviolet radiation, temperature, water, oxygen, carbon dioxide, nitrogen, phosphorus, iron, surface roughness and albedo. A survey of the nature and extent of weathering facilitated by such vegetation concludes that it was limited based on depth of weathering when compared with that from rooted tracheophytes today, with minor effects on carbon dioxide drawdown. As global net productivity from Ordovician–Silurian CCs was very probably lower than today, and while the small fraction of intractable material in their organic carbon would have resulted in a more rapid turnover of terrestrial biomass, we conclude that there was decreased possibility of long‐term organic carbon burial. Hence, there would have been very limited increase in atmospheric oxygen and decrease in carbon dioxide resulting from carbon burial.

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  • Predicted NPP is sensitive to variations in CO2, climate, ice sheet cover, and O2, but is consistently higher than the 4.3 GtC·y-1 estimated elsewhere.

    “Predicted NPP is sensitive to variations in CO2 and climate (Fig. S1), ice sheet cover (Fig. S2), and O 2 (Table S2), but is consistently higher than the 4.3 GtC · y -1 (7% of today) estimated elsewhere (33).”

    From Earliest land plants created modern levels of atmospheric oxygen (2016) · cites this paper as [33]

  • For the earliest land plants to be responsible for the mid-Paleozoic oxygenation event, they must have been much more productive and globally extensive than previously assumed.

    “For the earliest land plants to be responsible for such a major mid-Paleozoic oxygenation event requires that they were much more productive and globally extensive than has been previously assumed (7, 10, 33).”

    From Earliest land plants created modern levels of atmospheric oxygen (2016) · cites this paper as [33]

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3 of the 270 references couldn’t be matched to a known paper.

Research works printed but not linked: 7

  1. l M O R A L , R. and G R I S H I N , S. Y. 1999a. Volcanic distur- bances and ecosystem recovery. 137-160. In W ALK ER, L. R. (ed.). Ecosystems of disturbed ground. Elsevier. --1999b. The consequences of volcanic eruptions. 137- 160.
  2. -L E A K E , J. R., J O H N S O N , D. A., T A Y L O R , L. L., S A C C O N E , L. and B E E R L I N G , D. J. in press. Limited role for early land plants in driving enhanced early Palaeozoic weathering and global cooling. Proceedings of the Royal Society, B. R A V E N , J. A. 1986. Evolution of plant life forms. 421-492.
  3. In W I N T E R , K. and S M I T H , J. A. C. (eds). Crassulacean acid metabolism: biochemistry, eco- physiology and evolution. Springer, Heidelberg.
  4. -2010. Thalloid carbonacerous incrustations and the asyn- chronous evolution of embryophyte characters during the Early Palaeozoic. International Journal of Coal Geology, 83, 154-161.
  5. T A Y L O R , T. N., K R I N G S , M. and T A Y L O R , E. L. 2015. Fossil fungi. Academic Press, Amsterdam, 398 pp.
  6. T I M S , J. D. 1980. The early land flora of Victoria. Unpublished PhD thesis. University of Melbourne, Australia.
  7. D O N O G H U E , P. C. J. and S M I T H , M. P. (eds). Telling the evolutionary time scale: molecular clocks and the fossil record. CRC Press, London.

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Authors
Edwards, D., Cherns, L., & Raven, J. A.
Affiliations
  • Cardiff University (GB)
  • James Hutton Institute (GB)
Corresponding author
  • Edwards, Dianne
  • Cherns, Lesley
  • Raven, John A.
ORCID
Venue
Palaeontology
Publisher
Wiley
Published
2015-08-18
Volume
58
Issue
5
Pages
803-837
ISSN
  • 0031-0239 (ISSN-L)
  • 1475-4983
DOI
10.1111/pala.12187
OpenAlex
W1937644529
Cited by
82
References
270
Citations by year
2026: 1 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 7 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 9 · 2021: 13 · 2020: 2 · 2019: 11 · 2018: 9 · 2017: 11 · 2016: 9
FWCI
7.31
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor (vor)
Locations
  • Palaeontology (publishedVersion)
  • ORCA Online Research @Cardiff (Cardiff University) (submittedVersion)
  • UWA Profiles and Research Repository (UWA) (submittedVersion)
  • Discovery Research Portal (University of Dundee) (submittedVersion)
  • UTS ePRESS (University of Technology Sydney) (submittedVersion)
Funders
Leverhulme Trust and the Gatsby Charitable Foundation
Topics
  • Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Paleontology › Paleontology and Stratigraphy of Fossils
  • Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Atmospheric Science › Earth Systems and Cosmic Evolution
  • Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics › Biocrusts and Microbial Ecology
Keywords
biological soil crusts, Ordovician-Silurian, atmospheric oxygenation, organic carbon burial, weathering, photosynthetically active radiation, ultraviolet radiation, Hirnantian glaciation, cryptospores, cyanobacteria, lichens, bryophytes

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