Lichens were already widespread over 410 million years ago, according to a new international study which identifies a fossil from Brazil as one of the oldest lichen in Earth’s history.
Devonian
Posted inAtmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Fossils & Paleontology, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Nomenclature, Systematics, Natural History, Origin & Evolution of Life, Press Release, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography
How Did Earth’s Animal Life Transition From Aquatic To Terrestrial Environments?
The transition from aquatic to terrestrial life has been one of the most significant evolutionary challenges. This decisive process in the evolution of life on Earth required a profound renewal […]
Posted inBiosignatures & Paleobiology, Fossils & Paleontology, Microgravity, Nomenclature, Systematics, Natural History, Origin & Evolution of Life, Plant Biology, Status Report
Ancient Prototaxites Don’t Belong To Any Living Lineage – Possibly A Distinct Branch of Multicellular Earth life
Prototaxites was an extinct lineage of multicellular terrestrial eukaryotes. Prototaxites was the first giant organism to live on the terrestrial surface, reaching sizes of 8 metres in the Early Devonian.
Posted inAway Teams & Field Reports, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Fossils & Paleontology, Press Release
Earth’s Earliest Forest Revealed In Somerset Fossils
The oldest fossilised forest known on Earth – dating from 390 million years ago – has been found in the high sandstone cliffs along the Devon and Somerset coast of […]
Posted inBiosignatures & Paleobiology, Fossils & Paleontology, Origin & Evolution of Life, Press Release
Hapalosiphonacean Cyanobacteria (Nostocales) Thrived Amid Emerging Embryophytes In An Early Devonian (407-million-year-old) Landscape
Cyanobacteria have a long evolutionary history, well documented in marine rocks. They are also abundant and diverse in terrestrial environments; however, although phylogenies suggest that the group colonized land early […]
Posted inBiogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Extinction events, Plant Biology, Press Release
Evolution Of Tree Roots May Have Driven Mass Extinctions
The evolution of tree roots may have triggered a series of mass extinctions that rocked the Earth’s oceans during the Devonian Period over 300 million years ago, according to a […]
Posted inAtmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Citizen Science / Open Science, Extinction events, Press Release, Space Weather & Heliophysics
Exploding Stars May Have Caused Mass Extinction On Earth
Imagine reading by the light of an exploded star, brighter than a full moon – it might be fun to think about, but this scene is the prelude to a […]