What was the first green algae

It thrived in shallow water, and the roots were attached to the seafloor. From where the fossil was found, scientists discovered about 1, individual specimens of the species, which highlights that the plant thrived in sea-base during that time. When these tiny seaweeds died, they were buried under thick sediment, which preserved the organic shapes of the seaweeds as fossils.

The authors conclude that the discovery of P. These fossils came from an ancient ocean, but there is still a debate about where green algae originated. Moreover, green algae isn't the oldest algae on record. The study was published online yesterday Feb. Written and presented in a style that makes even the most complex subjects interesting and easy to understand, How It Works is enjoyed by readers of all ages.

Laura is an editor at Live Science. She edits Life's Little Mysteries and reports on general science, including archaeology and animals. She has won multiple awards from the Society of Professional Journalists and the Washington Newspaper Publishers Association for her reporting at a weekly newspaper near Seattle.

Laura holds a bachelor's degree in English literature and psychology from Washington University in St. While fossils of land plants are abundant, ancient seaweed fossils are rare. To survive out of water, plants developed sturdy vascular systems and strong cell walls. Those same characteristics make for excellent preservation in fossils. The world is very, very different from what we know today.

Ancient as the fossilized algae are, they seem to have many of the characteristics also seen in much later green seaweeds. Because that fossil is fragmented and poorly preserved, not all scientists agreed that it was a piece of green algae immortalized in rock; the uncertainty left the early history of seaweeds in doubt.

The new fossils from Dalian have weathered their billion-year existence more successfully. This recently unearthed billion-year-old microfossil, smaller than a grain of rice and surprisingly intact, seems to show the earliest known green algae. It suggests that multicellularity and some other advanced features were present in these algae very early in their history.

But there is still room for doubt. Andrew Knoll , a professor of natural history at Harvard University, expressed similar reservations. But the transition to land life would probably have begun hundreds of millions of years earlier, with green algae adapting to survive in damp soil or sand that was subject to temporary drying. Researchers on Monday said the plant, called Proterocladus antiquus, was about the size of a rice grain and boasted numerous thin branches, thriving in shallow water while attached to the seafloor with a root-like structure.

It may seem small, but Proterocladus - a form of green algae - was one of the largest organisms of its time, sharing the seas mainly with bacteria and other microbes. It engaged in photosynthesis, transforming energy from sunlight into chemical energy and producing oxygen.

The first land plants, thought to be descendents of green seaweeds, appeared about million years ago.