400million years ago the entire of Planet Earth’s land was nothing more than volcanoes and mountains, violently erupting and punching tremors through the planet as they jostled for space. The ground was either blackened with ash or stained yellow or blue by the stinking Sulphur and rivers of molten lava.
The coastlines were where terrestrial life started. It was already blooming in the Sea, thought to have first existed on thermal deep-sea vents at the bottom of the Ocean. Algae was the first life form to make tentative contact with the land, due to certain types developing a waxy coating called a cuticle to stop them drying out quickly. But they were still chained to the sea, unable to make it out of the splash zone, leaving the land uncolonized.
Until microscopic filaments (tiny strings) of Carbon started edging their way out of the water, closely followed by the first mosses, and later the Liverworts-algae with a tougher waxy cuticle, making them less dependent on the sea. Together they spread out over the blackened planet in a relieving green carpet, taking in light from the sun in between violent storms and absorbing water. They sucked in the masses of CO2 and released Oxygen. At only a few centimeters high, they were the world’s first ever forests.
It stayed this way for a long time; the first land animals (tiny little ancient ancestors of the modern-day Millipede) lived entirely on the lush green carpet of mosses, living a peaceful life grazing on them and harvesting their spores, for thousands of years. Until eventually other plants joined them; the carbon filaments grew larger; the millipedes were joined by scorpions, spiders and isopods; the creation of wings came about, and the rest of Life on Earth’s history unraveled.
Today, mosses are sadly 'the annoying little green splodges' on peoples rooves, or the little hairy green things growing from cracks in the concrete. But jokes on us! because unlike us, some of those annoying little green splodges have stayed unchanged since before there were even animals walking on land.
They can still be easily traced back to that time too. They never entirely became independent from the sea for example, still bound to water for reproduction.
Moss can reproduce sexually or A-sexually. Like everything, sexual reproduction for them involves an egg and a sperm. The egg grows at the top of a moss leaf, while the sperm sits at its base, having to climb its way up to the top to fertilize the egg, which it needs water to do, as it carries it and stops it from drying out. Once there, it’ll fertilize the egg and create a hollow chamber. You’ll recognise them, they’re those little balls atop skinny, usually red stem that grow amongst clumps of moss.
In this chamber spores are manufactured A-sexually, until during a spell of dry, windy weather, the chambers will burst open and the microscopic spores float away on the wind, and those that find a suitably damp area will begin to grow into their very own miniature forest. They aren’t just annoying little green splodges on your roof-they saw the world when dragonflies were bigger than cows, and when your house would’ve been a colossal volcano, or mountain range.
Thanks for reading! And thankyou so much to Andrew M B for donating his macro shot of some moss spores to the blog! (The second image up-you can see more of his work at @amorrisonblake on Instagram.) Also incase you didn't guess, the picture of the volcano isn't mine-it came from the copyright free images on Wix. Just thought I'd let you know so you know I'm not a fraud.
If you enjoyed please feel free to have a look at some of my other posts/images! :)
Comments