When Life Moved To Land & The Disastrous Consequences | GEO GIRL

When bacteria, algae, fungi, non-vascular plants, vascular plants, seed plants, invertebrate animals, & vertebrate animals moved to land, there were major climatic consequences that led to the first 2 Mass Extinction Events in Earth's history.
Before terrestrial environments could be inhabited, life had to conquer transitional environments, like continental shelves. The stromatolites invaded continental platforms by the Late Archean Eon almost 3 billion years ago. Eukaryotic algae joined the cyanobacteria in these mat communities around 1.3-1 billion years ago. Fungi then moved further inland by around 1 billion years ago (depending on who you listen to). The timing of land fungi evolution is still debated but in any case it happened before plants moved to land. After bacteria, algae, and fungi had invaded land, plants joined in first as small, creeping non-vascular forms like mosses. The rapid expansion of non-vascualr plants over land caused the first Mass Extinction Event in the Late Ordovician Period.
In the Silurian, after the Devonian, invertebrates began invading land as well, first as millipedes, wingless insects, scorpions & spiders. Seedless vascular plants invaded terrestrial habitats in the mid Devonian, and seed plants, which could get further from water bodies and cover dry regions, finally invaded land in the late Devonian, along with vertebrates which were transitioning from fish to amphibian with forms like Tiktaalik and Ichthyostega. Unfortunately, the spread of vascular plants in the Devonian had climatic consequences which caused the second Mass Extinction Event, the Late Devonian Extinctions.

References:
Geomicrobiology: https://amzn.to/2WAloTR
Fungi & Plant Timing paper (2): https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1061457 (Heckman et al., 2001)
Fungi Timing paper (3): https://doi.org/10.3852/09-016 (Lucking et al., 2009)
Plant Timing paper (4): https://doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msab106 (Su et al., 2021)
Moss Affects Weathering paper: https://www.nature.com/articles/ngeo1390 (Lenton et al., 2012)
Earth System History: https://amzn.to/3v1Iy0G
Your inner fish by N. Shubin (Tiktaalik book): https://amzn.to/3cpw3Wb

GEO GIRL Website: https://www.geogirlscience.com/ (visit my website to see all my courses, shop merch, learn more about me, and donate to support the channel if you'd like!)

Studying for an exam? Schedule Tutoring with me: https://GEOGIRLTutoring.as.me/

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Non-textbook books I recommend:
Oxygen by D. Canfield: https://amzn.to/3gffbCL
Brief history of Earth by A. Knoll: https://amzn.to/3w3hC1I
Life on young planet by A. Knoll: https://amzn.to/2RBMpny
Some assembly required by N. Shubin: https://amzn.to/3w1Ezm2
Oxygen by N. Lane: https://amzn.to/3z4FgwZ
Alien Oceans by K. Hand: https://amzn.to/3clMx1l
Life's Engines: https://amzn.to/3w1Nhke

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0:00 Definition of ‘Land’
1:06 Bacterial & Algal Transition
4:28 The Land Fungi Debate
7:32 Non-Vascular Plant Transition
11:40 Vascular Plant Transition
14:20 Seed Plant Transition
15:59 Invertebrate Animal Transition
16:59 Vertebrate Animal Transition
20:19 Major Land Animal Evolutionary Steps
21:39 Timeline of Land Migrations
23:00 Related videos & references

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