Ordovician spore ‘thalli’ and the evolution of the plant sporophyte

Strother, Paul K.; Taylor, Wilson A.; Beck, John H.; Vecoli, Marco

doi:10.1080/01916122.2017.1361213

Cited by 17 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 41 publications

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“…They are found in shallow marine depositional settings that include other cryptospores that are indicative of non-marine provenance (Strother and Foster, 2021). These "spore thalli" (Grododowon orthogonalis; Figure 2E), appear to fit Bower's prediction that sporogenous tissue-grade multicellularity would have preceded vegetative tissue in the evolving sporophyte (Strother et al, 2017). Such forms are not the direct ancestors of the embryophytes, but they attest to ongoing natural selection in an evolving complex of subaerial streptophytes before the canalization of embryophytic sporogenesis.…”

Section: A Paleobotanical Record Of Sporophyte Assemblymentioning

confidence: 72%

“…The second is the fossil record itself. Spore‐like remains (cryptospores) dating from 505 to 480 Ma have been recovered from estuarine and near‐shore deposits from China (Wang et al, 2022), the Grand Canyon (Strother and Beck, 2000; Baldwin, et al, 2004; Taylor and Strother, 2008), Tennessee (Strother, 2016) (Figure 2F), Wisconsin (Taylor and Strother, 2009) (Figure 2G), Utah (Yin et al, 2013; Strother et al, 2017), and Australia (Strother and Foster, 2021). Cryptospores from strata from more than about 470 Ma do not possess the regular geometric configurations that characterize the immediate evolutionary precursors of the trilete spore, but instead appear to be derived from streptophyte algae that were adapting to subaerial conditions (Strother and Beck, 2000; Strother et al, 2004; Strother and Taylor, 2018).…”

Section: A Paleobotanical Record Of Sporophyte Assemblymentioning

confidence: 99%

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Green land: Multiple perspectives on green algal evolution and the earliest land plants

McCourt

Lewis

Strother

et al. 2023

American J of Botany

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Green plants, broadly defined as green algae and the land plants (together, Viridiplantae), constitute the primary eukaryotic lineage that successfully colonized Earth's emergent landscape. Members of various clades of green plants have independently made the transition from fully aquatic to subaerial habitats many times throughout Earth's history. The transition, from unicells or simple filaments to complex multicellular plant bodies with functionally differentiated tissues and organs, was accompanied by innovations built upon a genetic and phenotypic toolkit that have served aquatic green phototrophs successfully for at least a billion years. These innovations opened an enormous array of new, drier places to live on the planet and resulted in a huge diversity of land plants that have dominated terrestrial ecosystems over the past 500 million years. This review examines the greening of the land from several perspectives, from paleontology to phylogenomics, to water stress responses and the genetic toolkit shared by green algae and plants, to the genomic evolution of the sporophyte generation. We summarize advances on disparate fronts in elucidating this important event in the evolution of the biosphere and the lacunae in our understanding of it. We present the process not as a step‐by‐step advancement from primitive green cells to an inevitable success of embryophytes, but rather as a process of adaptations and exaptations that allowed multiple clades of green plants, with various combinations of morphological and physiological terrestrialized traits, to become diverse and successful inhabitants of the land habitats of Earth.

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Section: A Paleobotanical Record Of Sporophyte Assemblymentioning

confidence: 72%

Section: A Paleobotanical Record Of Sporophyte Assemblymentioning

confidence: 99%

Green land: Multiple perspectives on green algal evolution and the earliest land plants

McCourt

Lewis

Strother

et al. 2023

American J of Botany

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“…Also clearly distinct are coenobial forms such as Deflandastrum Combaz 1962, Ericanthea Cramer & Díez de Cramer 1977, Kahfia Le Hérissé et al 1995, Proteolobus Wood 1997 and Speculaforma Miller et al 2017. Usually, well-organised Palaeozoic forms consisting of simple spheres (such as Grododowon orthogonalis Strother et al 2017) have been interpreted as colonies of chlorophycean or zygnemaphycean algae or prasinophycean phycomata (see discussion in Navidi-Izad et al 2020). These coenobial forms exhibit a highly organised structure, unlike the other clusters discussed herein.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Acritarch clusters from the Cambrian (Miaolingian) of the Příbram-Jince Basin, Czech Republic

2022

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Monogeneric clusters of five acritarch genera (Adara, Cymatiosphaera, Eliasum, Synsphaeridium and Timofeevia) were discovered in palynological residues obtained from fine-grained siliciclastic samples from the middle Cambrian (Miaolingian) Jince Formation of the P r ıbram-Jince Basin (Czech Republic). The clusters consist of two to more than 100 individual specimens and lack a common pattern of organisation. Acritarchs within clusters fall within a similar size range, regardless of generic affinity. Proposed mechanisms for the formation of these acritarch clusters are discussed: for the Jince Formation clusters, aggregation within algal blooms or primary colonial behaviour are the most plausible explanations. In addition, a summary of reports of acritarch clusters from lower Palaeozoic strata is included: clusters of a variety of acritarch genera have been documented from rocks of early Cambrian to Late Devonian age.

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“…Of particular interest is the taxon Grododowon orthogonalis Strother 2017. This species was described by Strother et al (2017) as "Ordovician spore 'thalli'" which may suggest a land plant derived origin. Navidi-Izad et al (2020) discussed the classification of this taxon and of similar colonial palynomorphs.…”

Section: Early Land Plant Evidence and The Cryptospore Debatementioning

confidence: 99%

Virgatasporites and Attritasporites: the oldest land plant derived spores, cryptospores or acritarchs?

et al. 2022

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The oldest reported occurrence of cryptospores supposed to derive from land plants (embryophytes) is currently considered to be in the Middle Ordovician. The two genera Virgatasporites and Attritasporites, described in the 1960ʹs from the Early Ordovician (Tremadocian) of Algeria, are morphologically close to the miospores, and therefore pose a dilemma, because these spore-like microfossils are recorded before the first appearance of the oldest land plant derived spores. Here the taxonomy, biostratigraphy and palaeobiogeography of the two genera and their species are revised. Both genera are found in many localities on the Gondwanan border between the late Cambrian and the Middle Ordovician. They have not been found at the margins of other palaeocontinents so far. The biological affinity of the taxa remains uncertain. Several authors considered the two genera to be spore-like microfossils, whereas other authors classified them as acritarchs, i.e. organic-walled microfossils of unknown biological affinity. As the relationship to the embryophyte lineage cannot be established clearly to date, the biological affiliation remains enigmatic. Therefore, in the absence of other evidence, the taxa Virgatasporites and Attritasporites should be temporarily classified as incertae sedis, i.e. as acritarchs, before their true biological affinity is known and they can be adequately placed into a biological group.

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Ordovician spore ‘thalli’ and the evolution of the plant sporophyte

Cited by 17 publications

References 41 publications

Green land: Multiple perspectives on green algal evolution and the earliest land plants

Green land: Multiple perspectives on green algal evolution and the earliest land plants

Acritarch clusters from the Cambrian (Miaolingian) of the Příbram-Jince Basin, Czech Republic

Virgatasporites and Attritasporites: the oldest land plant derived spores, cryptospores or acritarchs?

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