C. Mays
A mass extinction killed the plants that previously thrived, and gave way to others, more resistant to heat. Ancient fossils can teach us how to preserve the nature we have today.
The most severe mass extinction in history ended with 80% of marine species 250 million years ago.
Now, fossilized plants and rock formations of the Sydney Basin in Australia, have been used to rebuild a chronology of several million years of survival of plants, as well as their readaptation in new ecosystems.
The new, Led by Portuguese Marcos Amores and published in GSA BulletinIt shows that the first species to colonize the earth immediately after the catastrophe of the end of the pera was the conifer, a kind of pine tree.
However, this species faced great challenges, and eventually collapsed due to the heat, giving way to species more heat -resistant – This was the secret to surviving the high temperatures. These species were similar to moss.
According to: the extremely hot temperatures that followed the phenomenon lasted 700,000 years and were only “restored” due to the “Smithian-Spathian event”, which brought a cooling to Earth again.
From this period, the a more abundant florawhich led to the leafy forests that occupied the earth during the Mesozoic period.
“This investigation emphasizes the crucial importance of plants, not only as the basis of terrestrial food chains, but also as Natural Carbon Sumidourings that stabilize the climate of the earth, ”explains Marcos Amores, the main author of the investigation.
It also refers to the need to preserve the flora today: “The disturbance of these systems can have impacts that last hundreds of thousands of years, so Protect current ecosystems It is more important than ever. ”
