About 410-Million-year-old Plant Fossil Sheds Light on Earth’s Ecological ShiftBeijing, 15 Jan (ONA) — Chinese scientists have discovered a tiny
plant species dating back about 410 million years in Duyun City,
southwest China’s Guizhou Province, offering new insights into the
process of “plant colonization of land.”
According to researchers from the Nanjing Institute of Geology and
Paleontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Zosterophyllum plant
they discovered stands at just 45 millimeters in height, with its
sporangial spike measuring only 5.8 to 10.8 millimeters. In contrast
to the typical length of 100 to 200 millimeters for similar plants
from that era, its diminutive size is exceptionally rare.

The researchers believe that the small plant, requiring less
nutrition and reproductive investment, likely had a short lifespan
and could complete its entire life cycle quickly.
This adaptability is thought to have been suited to the turbulent
environment of the time, serving as a survival strategy for plants in
that period.

Around 430 million years ago, plants began their transition from
ocean to land, a process that significantly transformed the Earth’s
ecological environment, according to experts.

“Terrestrial plants in their early stages of development likely
relied on evolving diverse survival strategies to overcome complex
environmental pressures, complete the ‘plant colonization of land,’
and ultimately clothe the Earth in greenery,” said Huang Pu, leading
assistant researcher of the study at the institute.— Ends/Khalid