Hold onto your ferns, science fans! A groundbreaking study led by Chinese researchers just rewrote Earth’s history books. New evidence shows land plants began transforming our planet’s surface 455 million years ago – that’s 20 million years earlier than we thought! 🌿
Dr. Zhao Mingyu’s team at the Chinese Academy of Sciences cracked the case using geochemical detective work. By analyzing ancient ocean sediments, they tracked how early plants like moss ancestors boosted photosynthesis and changed Earth’s carbon cycle. 💡 "It’s like finding nature’s original climate engineers," one researcher told us.
Why This Rocks Your World:
• Plants may have triggered an ice age ❄️ • Shaped mass extinction events ☄️ • North America hosted early plant pioneers 🗺️
Collaborating with Yale and other global institutions, the team found two major environmental shifts during the Late Ordovician period. Their findings, published this week in Nature Ecology & Evolution, show how tiny ancient plants created big changes – proving even the smallest organisms can reshape worlds. 🌎✨
