The development of early terrestrial ecosystems

Edwards, Dianne; Selden, Paul A.

doi:10.1080/03746600508684794

Cited by 61 publications

(41 citation statements)

References 80 publications

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“…The spores and cuticles of plants of bryophyte type that were found 460 Myr ago (Edwards & Selden 1992) gave a minimum age for the colonization of the land by plants and therefore for the presence of soils and litter. Soil habitats were probably among the first terrestrial ecosystems available, and the colonization of the ground by plants provided food, substrate and protection for the first Hexapoda, and for the first Collembola.…”

Section: Discussion: Ecological Origin Of Collembolamentioning

confidence: 99%

Were the first springtails semi-aquatic? A phylogenetic approach by means of 28S rDNA and optimization alignment

D’Haese

2002

Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B

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Emergence from an aquatic environment to the land is one of the major evolutionary transitions within the arthropods. It is often considered that the first hexapods, and in particular the first springtails, were semi-aquatic and this assumption drives evolutionary models towards particular conclusions. To address the question of the ecological origin of the springtails, phylogenetic analyses by optimization alignment were performed on D1 and D2 regions of the 28S rDNA for 55 collembolan exemplars and eight outgroups. Relationships among the orders Symphypleona, Entomobryomorpha and Poduromorpha are inferred. More specifically, a robust hypothesis is provided for the subfamilial relationships within the order Poduromorpha. Contrary to previous statements, the semi-aquatic species Podura aquatica is not basal or 'primitive', but well nested in the Poduromorpha. The analyses performed for the 24 different weighting schemes yielded the same conclusion: semi-aquatic ecology is not ancestral for the springtails. It is a derived condition that evolved independently several times. The adaptation for semi-aquatic life is better interpreted as a step towards independence from land, rather than indication of an aquatic origin.

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Section: Discussion: Ecological Origin Of Collembolamentioning

confidence: 99%

Were the first springtails semi-aquatic? A phylogenetic approach by means of 28S rDNA and optimization alignment

D’Haese

2002

Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B

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“…The oldest known fossils of vascular plants are about 400 to 420 Ma old (Edwards and Selden, 1992). However, Hedges (2002) suggested an earlier origin of the three main multicellular kingdoms (plants, animals, and fungi) at about 1.5 Ga, based on protein sequence analyses ("molecular clocks") and calibration of the time scale using fossil evidence.…”

Section: General Overview Of Biological Evolutionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Cyanobacteria can also produce extracellular organic ligands in the presence of oxygen: production of glycolate has received particular attention (Norman and Colman, 1992). Siderophores of hydroxymate and catechol Table 1 Summary of the first appearance of organisms reported on Earth 1 Schopf and Walter (1983), Schopf and Packer (1987), Edwards and Selden (1992), Remy and others (1994), Taylor and others (1995a, b), Redecker and others (2000), Rye and Holland (2000b), Watanabe and others (2000), Schopf and others (2002), Furnes and others (2004), see also Brasier and others (2002).…”

Section: Secretion Of Lmwoa By Prokaryotesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Implications of the evolution of organic acid moieties for basalt weathering over geological time

Neaman

Chorover²,

Brantley

2005

American Journal of Science

117

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ABSTRACT. Concentrations of organic acids in prebiotic soils were presumably low, given limitations in abiotic synthesis and the limited lifetimes of organic molecules before the ultraviolet shield developed on early Earth. Prokaryotes, the first landcolonizing organisms, commonly secrete aliphatic carboxylic acids, and, less extensively, secrete aromatic compounds as siderophores and antibiotics. In contrast, secretion of aromatic acids is considerable for fungi, lichens, and vascular plants. Aromatic acids are also produced by degradation of high-molecular-weight compounds from lignin and tannin, both abundant in vascular plants. The proportion of aromatic carboxylic acids in soil solutions therefore probably increased with the evolution of higher order organisms. As biomass of organisms increased over geological time, concentrations of organic acids in soil solutions and, in turn, the extent of ligandpromoted dissolution of minerals probably increased.To

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“…This has been widely discussed in relation to arthropod plant interactions and the evolution of terrestrial ecosystems (e.g. Kevan, Chaloner, & Savile, 1975;Edwards & Selden, 1993). To date there is no body fossil evidence for coeval terrestrial macroherbivores against which such spines would be a deterrent.…”

Section: Evolutionary A7id Adaptive Significance Of Epidermal Featuresmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…My own particular interest, somewhat inelegantly called terrestrialization as it is concerned with phases in the colonization ofthe land, provides an excellent example of such collaborative activities. My colleagues and I are concerned with the effects of these early land plants on their substrates resulting in the development of well-defined soils, with the evolution of terrestrial ecosystems involving (to date) plants, decomposers, detritivores and carnivores, and with the composition and architecture of plant communities (Edwards & Selden, 1993). At the heart of such studies and still essential to the elucidation of affinities and palaeophysiology is detailed investigation of the anatomy of the plants themselves and the production of a data base as is reviewed here.…”

Section: Why Anatomy?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Cells and tissues in the vegetative sporophytes of early land plants

Edwards

1993

New Phytologist

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SUMMARY Remarkable preservation in coalified and pennineralized fossils from Upper Silurian and Lower Devonian sediments deposited some 420 to 390 million years ago provides insight into the major anatomical innovations associated with the early stages in the colonization of the land by higher plants. Using uniformitarian principles, such information, combined with gross morphology, can then be used to reconstruct the pioneers as growing, metabolizing and reproducing organisms, as well as allowing assessment of affinity, although apart from the lycophytes, they have no close relationship with extant groups. In considering vascular tissues, diversity is exemplified by descriptions of the metaxylem in protosteles of Zosterophyllopsida and Drepanophycopsida (putative lycophytes), of Psilophyton (Trimerophytopsida), of the Rhyniaceae (including Rhynia gwynnevaughanii, certain Taeniocrada spp., Sennicaulis) and of Cooksonia pertoni, a Lower Devonian representative of the organization found in the oldest pteridophyte‐like land plants. Aglaophyton major is included as a plant with bryophyte‐like vascular tissues in a branching sporophyte with cuticle, stomata and intercellular space system typical of the homoiohydric tracheophyte. In all water‐conducting cells, interpretation of the primary and secondary wall results from comparisons involving the anatomy and chemistry of extant examples and an understanding of taphonomic processes. Phloem is only rarely preserved and usually identified from its position around the xylem. In contrast, dermal features are better known, because of penetration of the resilient cuticle between epidermal cells. They appear conservative. Thus stomata with two guard cells look remarkably similar to extant forms in surface view, and by consideration of their relationship with surrounding epidermal cells and of extent of cuticularization, seem to have operated in a similar way to those in certain mosses and ferns. Cuticular ornamentation (papillae, striations) and epidermal outgrowths (unicellular and multicellular) are described and their adaptive significance conjectured. Ground tissue systems are best preserved in Rhynie Chert permineralizations where zonation of the cortex is tentatively related to photosynthetic and structural roles. The latter function is also attributed to thick‐walled, outer cortical cells recorded in many zosterophylls and in Psilophyton, although the chemical nature of the walls themselves remains equivocal. Problems of identification of roots in plants possessing axial organization with exarch xylem, and in leafy plants with smooth lateral branching systems are briefly addressed. Finally axis apices in Rhynia givynne‐vaughanii and sections showing stages in the maturation of Asteroxylon stems are described from the Rhynie Chert.

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The development of early terrestrial ecosystems

Cited by 61 publications

References 80 publications

Were the first springtails semi-aquatic? A phylogenetic approach by means of 28S rDNA and optimization alignment

Were the first springtails semi-aquatic? A phylogenetic approach by means of 28S rDNA and optimization alignment

Implications of the evolution of organic acid moieties for basalt weathering over geological time

Cells and tissues in the vegetative sporophytes of early land plants

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