480 million-year-old fossil spores from Western Australia record how ancient plants spread to land
- Written by Clinton Foster, Honorary professor, Australian National University
An irregular cluster of fossil spores. (Scale 10 micrometres.)Paul Strother, Author providedWhen plants first ventured onto the land, evolving from freshwater-dwelling algae, more than 500 million years ago, they transformed the planet. By drawing carbon dioxide from the air, they cooled Earth, and by eroding rock surfaces they helped build the...
