Colonization of land by plants

2003/05/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Paleontologia
• Arkeologia

In the Scottish Rhynie they have been working with fossils for a long time. The special conditions that occurred 400 million years ago made plants and arthropods fossilize very well. They have managed to extract lignin from a specially fossilized plant. Lignina can help discover what the first plants that colonized the earth were like.

This polymer gives stiffness to the stem and to the roots, so the plants need to grow up. Thus, the researchers conclude that the plants of about 400 million years ago had the capacity to grow upwards, which facilitated the appearance of trees.