Life and the Evolution of Earth's Atmosphere

@article{Kasting2002LifeAT,
  title={Life and the Evolution of Earth's Atmosphere},
  author={James F Kasting and Janet L. Siefert},
  journal={Science},
  year={2002},
  volume={296},
  pages={1066 - 1068}
}
Harvesting light to produce energy and oxygen (photosynthesis) is the signature of all land plants. This ability was co-opted from a precocious and ancient form of life known as cyanobacteria. Today these bacteria, as well as microscopic algae, supply oxygen to the atmosphere and churn out fixed nitrogen in Earth's vast oceans. Microorganisms may also have played a major role in atmosphere evolution before the rise of oxygen. Under the more dim light of a young sun cooler than today's, certain… 
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395 Citations
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395 Citations

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Cyanobacteria and Their Role Under Elevated CO2 Conditions
  • Savita Singh
  • Environmental Science
    Climate Change and Agricultural Ecosystems
  • 2019
Abstract Cyanobacteria are pioneer microbes that evolved more than 2 billion years ago. They converted the otherwise anoxygenic surroundings on earth into oxygenic surroundings, which paved the way…
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Abstract Earth accreted 4567 Myr ago from largely homogeneous material. From this initial capital of matter, differentiation formed the chemical and physical compartments of core, mantle, continents,…
Evolution of photosynthesis and biospheric oxygenation contingent upon nitrogen fixation?
  • J. Grula
  • Biology, Physics
    International Journal of Astrobiology
  • 2005
TLDR
It is hypothesized that biospheric oxygenation would not have occurred if the emergence of cyanobacteria had not been preceded by the evolution of nitrogen fixation, and if these organisms had not also acquired the ability to fix nitrogen at the beginning of or very early in their history.
Oxidative Stress in Tropical Marine Ecosystems
T he accumulation of oxygen in Earth’s atmosphere has had profound effects on the geochemistry, physiology, and evolution of life on the planet. However, most organisms must also contend with the…
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An ancestral reaction center of Photosystem I and II (RCI/II) type of photosynthesis arose in which a membrane-spanning helix (MSH) protein bound two molecules of chlorophyll/bacteriochlorophyll in a special pair and had a Chl/quinone primary acceptor.
The rise of oxygen and the hydrogen hourglass
Oxygenic photosynthesis appears to be necessary for an oxygen-rich atmosphere like Earth's. But available geological and geochemical evidence suggest that at least 200 Myr, and possibly more than 700…
Niches of the pre‐photosynthetic biosphere and geologic preservation of Earth's earliest ecology
The tree of terrestrial life probably roots in non-photosynthetic microbes. Chemoautotrophs were the first primary producers, and the globally dominant niches in terms of primary productivity were…
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