Early life on land and the first terrestrial ecosystems

@article{BeraldiCampesi2013EarlyLO,
  title={Early life on land and the first terrestrial ecosystems},
  author={Hugo Beraldi-Campesi},
  journal={Ecological Processes},
  year={2013},
  volume={2},
  pages={1-17}
}
Terrestrial ecosystems have been largely regarded as plant-dominated land surfaces, with the earliest records appearing in the early Phanerozoic (<550 Ma). Yet the presence of biological components in pre-Phanerozoic rocks, in habitats as different as soils, peats, ponds, lakes, streams, and dune fields, implies a much earlier type of terrestrial ecosystems. Microbes were abundant by ~3,500 Ma ago and surely adapted to live in subaerial conditions in coastal and inland environments, as they do… Expand
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