Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7czq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-23T18:38:15.392Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

When and how did plants and animals take to the land?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 April 2016

R. D. K. Thomas
R. D. K. Thomas*
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, Franklin and Marshall College, P.O. Box 3003, Lancaster, Pennsylvania 17604
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

The origin and diversification of terrestrial communities has long been associated with the Devonian. The earliest known substantial assemblage of land plants and animals preserved in or close to their original habitats is still that of the Rhynie Chert peat bog, from Scotland, which is of Siegenian age.

Type
Current Happenings
Information
Paleobiology , Volume 10 , Issue 1 , Winter 1984 , pp. 1 - 8
Copyright
Copyright © The Paleontological Society 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Literature Cited

Banks, H. P. 1968. The early history of land plants. Pp. 73–107. In: Drake, E. T., ed. Evolution and Environment. Yale Univ. Press; New Haven and London.Google Scholar
Banks, H. P. 1980. Floral assemblages of the Siluro-Devonian. Pp. 1–24. In: Dilcher, D. L. and Taylor, T. N., eds. Biostratigraphy of Fossil Plants. Dowden, Hutchinson & Ross; Stroudsburg, Pa.Google Scholar
Beerbower, J. R.in press. Early development of continental ecosystems. In: Tiffney, B. H., ed. Geological Factors and the Evolution of Plants. Yale Univ. Press; New Haven.Google Scholar
Bellini, E. and Massa, D. 1980. A stratigraphic contribution to the Paleozoic of the southern basins of Libya. Pp. 3–56. In: Salem, M. J. and Busrewil, M. T., eds. The Geology of Libya. Vol. 1. Academic Press; New York.Google Scholar
Boureau, E., Lejal-Nicol, A., and Massa, D. 1978. A propos du Silurien et du Dévonien en Libye. Il faut reporter au Silurien la date d'apparition des plantes vasculaires. Comptes rend. Acad. Sci. Paris, Sér. D. 286:1567–1571.Google Scholar
Chaloner, W. G. 1967. Spores and land-plant evolution. Rev. Palaeobot. Palynol. 1:83–93.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chaloner, W. G. and Sheerin, A. 1979. Devonian macrofloras. Pp. 145–161. In: House, M. R., Scrutton, C. T., and Bassett, M. G., eds. The Devonian System. Spec. Pap. Palaeontol.23.Google Scholar
Daber, R. 1971. Cooksonia. One of the most ancient psilophytes, widely distributed but rare. Botanique. 2:35–39.Google Scholar
Douglas, J. G. and Lejal-Nicol, A. 1981. Sur les premières flores vasculaires terrestres datées du Silurien: une comparaison entre la “Flore à Baragwanathia“ d'Australie et la “Flore à Psilophytes et Lycophytes” d'Afrique du Nord. Comptes rend. Acad. Sci. Paris, Sér. II. 292:685–688.Google Scholar
Edwards, D. 1980. Early land floras. Pp. 55–85. In: Panchen, A. L., ed. The Terrestrial Environment and the Origin of Land Vertebrates. Syst. Assoc. Spec. Vol. 15. Academic Press; New York.Google Scholar
Edwards, D., Bassett, M. G., and Rogerson, E. C. W. 1979. The earliest vascular land plants: continuing the search for proof. Lethaia. 12:313–324.Google Scholar
Edwards, D. and Feehan, J. 1980. Records of Cooksonia-type sporangia from late Wenlock strata in Ireland. Nature. 287:41–42.Google Scholar
Edwards, D., Feehan, J., and Smith, D. G. 1983. A late Wenlock flora from County Tipperary, Ireland. Bot. J. Linn. Soc. Lond. 86:19–36.Google Scholar
Fitter, A. H. and Hay, R. K. M. 1981. Environmental Physiology of Plants. 355 pp. Academic Press; New York.Google Scholar
Garratt, M. J. 1979. New evidence for a Silurian (Ludlow) age for the earliest Baragwanatbia flora. Alcheringa. 2:217–224.Google Scholar
Garratt, M. J. 1981. The earliest vascular land plants: comment on the age of the oldest Baragwanathia flora. Lethaia. 14:8.Google Scholar
Garratt, M. J. and Rickards, R. B.In press. Graptolite biostratigraphy of early land plants from Victoria. Proc. Yorkshire Geol. Soc.Google Scholar
Gray, J. and Boucot, A. J. 1971. Early Silurian spore tetrads from New York: earliest New World evidence for vascular plants? Science. 173:918–921.Google Scholar
Gray, J. and Boucot, A. J. 1977. Early vascular land plants: proof and conjecture. Lethaia. 10:145–174.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gray, J. and Boucot, A. J. 1978. The advent of land plant life. Geology. 6:489–492.Google Scholar
Gray, J. and Boucot, A. J. 1979. The Devonian land plant Protosalvinia. Lethaia. 12:57–63.Google Scholar
Gray, J., Massa, D., and Boucot, A. J. 1982. Caradocian land plant microfossils from Libya. Geology. 10:197–201.Google Scholar
Hickey, L. J., West, R. M., Dawson, M. R., and Choi, D. K. 1983. Arctic terrestrial biota: paleomagnetic evidence of age disparity with mid-northern latitudes during the Late Cretaceous and early Tertiary. Science. 221:1153–1156.Google Scholar
Hueber, F. M. 1983. A new species of Baragwanathia from the Sextant Formation (Emsian) Northern Ontario, Canada. Bot. J. Linn. Soc. Lond. 86:57–79.Google Scholar
Kevan, P. G., Chaloner, W. G., and Savile, D. B. O. 1975. Interrelationships of early terrestrial arthropods and plants. Palaeontology. 18:391–417.Google Scholar
Klitzsch, E., Lejal-Nicol, A., and Massa, D. 1973. Le Siluro-Dévonien à psilophytes et lycophytes du Bassin de Mourzouk (Libye). Comptes rend. Acad. Sci. Paris, Sér. D. 277:2465–2467.Google Scholar
Krassilov, V. 1981. Orestovia and the origin of vascular plants. Lethaia. 14:235–250.Google Scholar
Lejal-Nicol, A. and Massa, D. 1980. Sur des végétaux du Dévonien inférieur de Libye. Rev. Palaeobot. Palynol. 29:221–239.Google Scholar
Niklas, K. J. 1982. Chemical diversification and evolution of plants as inferred from paleobiochemical studies. Pp. 29–91. In: Nitecki, M. H., ed. Biochemical Aspects of Evolutionary Biology. Univ. Chicago Press; Chicago.Google Scholar
Niklas, K. J. and Phillips, T. L. 1976. Morphology of Protosalvinia from the Upper Devonian of Ohio and Kentucky. Am. J. Bot. 63:9–29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Niklas, K. J. and Pratt, L. M. 1980. Evidence for lignin-like constituents in Early Silurian (Llandoverian) plant fossils. Science. 209:396–397.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Niklas, K. J., Tiffney, B. H., and Knoll, A. H. 1983. Patterns in vascular land plant diversification. Nature. 303:614–616.Google Scholar
Pratt, L. M., Phillips, T. L., and Dennison, J. M. 1978. Evidence of non-vascular land plants from the Early Silurian (Llandoverian) of Virginia, U.S.A. Rev. Palaeobot. Palynol. 25:141–149.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rackoff, J. S. 1980. The origin of the tetrapod limb and the ancestry of tetrapods. Pp. 255–292. In: Panchen, A. L., ed. The Terrestrial Environment and the Origin of Land Vertebrates. Syst. Assoc. Spec. Vol. 15. Academic Press; New York.Google Scholar
Raven, J. A. 1977. The evolution of vascular land plants in relation to supracellular transport processes. Pp. 153–219. In: Woolhouse, H. W., ed. Advances in Botanical Research 5. Academic Press; New York.Google Scholar
Retallack, G. J. 1981. Fossil soils: indicators of ancient terrestrial environments. Pp. 55–102. In: Niklas, K. J., ed. Paleobotany, Paleoecology and Evolution. Vol. 1. Praeger; New York.Google Scholar
Richardson, J. B. and Lister, T. R. 1969. Upper Silurian and Lower Devonian spore assemblages from the Welsh borderland and South Wales. Palaeontology. 12:201–252.Google Scholar
Rolfe, W. D. I. 1980. Early invertebrate terrestrial faunas. Pp. 117–157. In: Panchen, A. L., ed. The Terrestrial Environment and Origin of Land Vertebrates. Syst. Assoc. Spec. Vol. 15. Academic Press; New York.Google Scholar
Rolfe, W. D. I. 1982. Ancient air-breathers. Field Mus. Nat. Hist. Bull. 53(1):12–16.Google Scholar
Shear, W. A., Bonamo, P. M., Grierson, J. D., Rolfe, W. D. I., Norton, R. A., and Smith, E. L. 1984. Oldest American fossils of land animals: arthropods discovered near Gilboa, New York. Science, in press.Google Scholar
Sherwood-Pike, M. and Gray, J.In press. Silurian fungal remains: oldest records of the class Ascomycetes? Lethaia.Google Scholar
Stebbins, G. L. and Hill, G. J. C. 1981. Did multicellular plants invade the land? Am. Nat. 115:342–353.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Strusz, D. L. 1983. Silurian Maoristrophia (Brachiopoda) from Canberra, Australia. Alcheringa. 7:163–168.Google Scholar
Taylor, T. N. 1981. Paleobotany. 589 pp. McGraw-Hill; New York.Google Scholar
Westoll, T. S. 1977. Northern Britain. Pp. 66–93. In: House, M. R. et al. A Correlation of Devonian Rocks in the British Isles. Geol. Soc. Lond., Spec. Rept. 8.Google Scholar