A Late Paleozoic climate window of opportunity

Montañez, Isabel P.

doi:10.1073/pnas.1600236113

Cited by 56 publications

(31 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…Temporal distribution of tropical Pennsylvanian and early Permian biomes, paleoatmospheric p CO 2 and p O 2 , and glaciation history adapted from Montañez (). Panel (a) is a detailed inset of the biome‐glaciation history shown in (b).…”

Section: Plants Of the Pennsylvanian Tropical Realmmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Dynamic Carboniferous tropical forests: new views of plant function and potential for physiological forcing of climate

et al. 2017

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Contents 1333I.1334II.1335III.1339IV.1344V.1347VI.134713481348References1348 Summary The Carboniferous, the time of Earth's penultimate icehouse and widespread coal formation, was dominated by extinct lineages of early‐diverging vascular plants. Studies of nearest living relatives of key Carboniferous plants suggest that their physiologies and growth forms differed substantially from most types of modern vegetation, particularly forests. It remains a matter of debate precisely how differently and to what degree these long‐extinct plants influenced the environment. Integrating biophysical analysis of stomatal and vascular conductivity with geochemical analysis of fossilized tissues and process‐based ecosystem‐scale modeling yields a dynamic and unique perspective on these paleoforests. This integrated approach indicates that key Carboniferous plants were capable of growth and transpiration rates that approach values found in extant crown‐group angiosperms, differing greatly from comparatively modest rates found in their closest living relatives. Ecosystem modeling suggests that divergent stomatal conductance, leaf sizes and stem life span between dominant clades would have shifted the balance of soil–atmosphere water fluxes, and thus surface runoff flux, during repeated, climate‐driven, vegetation turnovers. This synthesis highlights the importance of ‘whole plant’ physiological reconstruction of extinct plants and the potential of vascular plants to have influenced the Earth system hundreds of millions of years ago through vegetation–climate feedbacks.

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Section: Plants Of the Pennsylvanian Tropical Realmmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Montañez () characterized these million‐yr scale changes in quantitative dominant elements of the vegetation and associated change in architecture and/or structure as a series of biomes (Fig. ).…”

Section: Plants Of the Pennsylvanian Tropical Realmmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dynamic Carboniferous tropical forests: new views of plant function and potential for physiological forcing of climate

et al. 2017

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“…Earlier plants possessed lignified "woody" tissue (25), with precursor structures existing in marine algae before the transition to land (26), and lignin-degrading fungi potentially present before the Carboniferous (24). Carboniferous coals are not dominated by lignin; instead, their accumulation was controlled by a combination of climate and tectonics supporting the creation and sedimentary preservation of peat bogs (24,27). Given that earlier plants developed peatlands (28), and had rock-weathering capabilities (20,21), they could also have affected the global carbon cycle (18,20).…”

Section: Significancementioning

confidence: 99%

Earliest land plants created modern levels of atmospheric oxygen

Lenton

Dahl

Daines

et al. 2016

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

274

224

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The progressive oxygenation of the Earth's atmosphere was pivotal to the evolution of life, but the puzzle of when and how atmospheric oxygen (O 2 ) first approached modern levels (∼21%) remains unresolved. Redox proxy data indicate the deep oceans were oxygenated during 435-392 Ma, and the appearance of fossil charcoal indicates O 2 >15-17% by 420-400 Ma. However, existing models have failed to predict oxygenation at this time. Here we show that the earliest plants, which colonized the land surface from ∼470 Ma onward, were responsible for this mid-Paleozoic oxygenation event, through greatly increasing global organic carbon burialthe net long-term source of O 2 . We use a trait-based ecophysiological model to predict that cryptogamic vegetation cover could have achieved ∼30% of today's global terrestrial net primary productivity by ∼445 Ma. Data from modern bryophytes suggests this plentiful early plant material had a much higher molar C:P ratio (∼2,000) than marine biomass (∼100), such that a given weathering flux of phosphorus could support more organic carbon burial. Furthermore, recent experiments suggest that early plants selectively increased the flux of phosphorus (relative to alkalinity) weathered from rocks. Combining these effects in a model of long-term biogeochemical cycling, we reproduce a sustained +2‰ increase in the carbonate carbon isotope (δ 13 C) record by ∼445 Ma, and predict a corresponding rise in O 2 to present levels by 420-400 Ma, consistent with geochemical data. This oxygen rise represents a permanent shift in regulatory regime to one where fire-mediated negative feedbacks stabilize high O 2 levels.oxygen | Paleozoic | phosphorus | plants | weathering

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“…Part of the figure adapted from Fig. , Montañez, and Fig. 4, Wilson et al ., 2017; courtesy Royer, 2014, reprinted with permisssion from Elsevier).…”

Section: The Mycorrhizal Symbiosis At the Dawn And Rise Of The Land Fmentioning

confidence: 99%

The origin and evolution of mycorrhizal symbioses: from palaeomycology to phylogenomics

et al. 2018

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Contents Summary 1012 I. Introduction 1013 II. The mycorrhizal symbiosis at the dawn and rise of the land flora 1014 III. From early land plants to early trees: the origin of roots and true mycorrhizas 1016 IV. The diversification of the AM symbiosis 1019 V. The ECM symbiosis 1021 VI. The recently evolved ericoid and orchid mycorrhizas 1023 VII. Limits of paleontological vs genetic approaches and perspectives 1023 Acknowledgements 1025 References 1025 SUMMARY: The ability of fungi to form mycorrhizas with plants is one of the most remarkable and enduring adaptations to life on land. The occurrence of mycorrhizas is now well established in c. 85% of extant plants, yet the geological record of these associations is sparse. Fossils preserved under exceptional conditions provide tantalizing glimpses into the evolutionary history of mycorrhizas, showing the extent of their occurrence and aspects of their evolution in extinct plants. The fossil record has important roles to play in establishing a chronology of when key fungal associations evolved and in understanding their importance in ecosystems through time. Together with calibrated phylogenetic trees, these approaches extend our understanding of when and how groups evolved in the context of major environmental change on a global scale. Phylogenomics furthers this understanding into the evolution of different types of mycorrhizal associations, and genomic studies of both plants and fungi are shedding light on how the complex set of symbiotic traits evolved. Here we present a review of the main phases of the evolution of mycorrhizal interactions from palaeontological, phylogenetic and genomic perspectives, with the aim of highlighting the potential of fossil material and a geological perspective in a cross-disciplinary approach.

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A Late Paleozoic climate window of opportunity

Cited by 56 publications

References 18 publications

Dynamic Carboniferous tropical forests: new views of plant function and potential for physiological forcing of climate

Dynamic Carboniferous tropical forests: new views of plant function and potential for physiological forcing of climate

Earliest land plants created modern levels of atmospheric oxygen

The origin and evolution of mycorrhizal symbioses: from palaeomycology to phylogenomics

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