Ancientโค Fossil Revealsโข Earliest Evidence of Lichens, Rewriting Understanding โof Life’s Transition to Land
RIO VERDE DE โฃMATOโฃ GROSSO, BRAZILโ – A groundbreaking revelation in a โBrazilian quarry has yielded the oldest known fossil evidence of lichens, pushing back the timeline for these crucial organisms and offering new insights into โhow life first colonized land. The 480-million-year-old โfossil, named โ Spongiophyton, suggests lichens weren’t simply surviving in harsh conditions, but actively shaping the early terrestrial habitat, paving theโ way for complex ecosystems like forests and fields.โค The research, published today in Scienceโ Advances, combines customary paleontological methods with advanced nanoscale imaging techniques.
The โฃfossil was unearthedโ in 2021 by Bruno Becker-Kerber while completingโฃ hisโ master’s degree at โฃthe University of Sรฃo Paulo (IGc-USP), alongside his father, Gilmar Kerber,โข a paleontologyโ enthusiast and retiredโข Ibama official โฃnow โคpursuing a doctorate at the Federal University of Mato Grosso do Sul (UFMS). “Each fossilโค is a window into the past.This one, in particular, showed โคa new vision about how lifeโฃ conquered the โคearth’s environment,” saidโ Gilmarโ Kerber.
Becker-Kerber, currently a postdoctoral researcher โat โHarvard University, meticulously โpackaged the โsample in sterilizedโฃ aluminum foil to prevent contamination,โฃ allowing for sensitive molecular biomarker โฃanalysis. Detailed examination at the National โคSynchrotron Light Laboratory (LNLS) at CNPEM revealedโ a โคcomplex network of fungi and algae, confirming the fossil’s lichen nature.
“The measurements โคguided us to key regionsโฃ of the fossils andโ we were able โto obtain nanometer-scale images that revealedโ the complex networks of fungi and algae that define the Spongiophyton like aโข real lichen,” explained Nathaly Archilha, a researcher at LNLS.
Theโค discovery โplaces โthe emergence of lichens in the coldโ regions of the ancient supercontinent Gondwana,โ encompassing present-day South America and โฃAfrica. Researchers believe these early lichens played a vital role in weathering rock, creating biomass, and ultimately transforming the planet’s surfaceโ – a role even more significant then previously โunderstood.
“We still observe today how lichens altered rocky substrates, dissolving โขrocks, in addition to producing biomass used by plants and animals. This role would be even greater during that period, โhaving enabled theโ emergenceโข of the complexโค ecosystems we have today,” โคconcluded Becker-Kerber.
The article, โ the rise of โขlichens during โคthe colonization of terrestrial environments, โis available at: โค https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adw7879.
