4億年前的植物化石可能改變“進化史”

4億年前的植物化石可能改變“進化史”

Researchers have discovered the fossilized 400-million-year-old remains of a new plant species in Canada that may give further insight into “evolutionary history,” according to experts.

據(jù)專家介紹，研究人員在加拿大發(fā)現(xiàn)了一種4億年前的新植物化石，這可能會讓人們對“進化史”有更深入的了解。

The research, published in the scientific journal Current Biology, looked at approximately 30 chips of rock that were excavated from the Campbellton Formation in New Brunswick. The extinct plant likely belonged to the group of plants known as herbaceous barinophytes and lived during a time when moss covered the ground, before eventually turning into forests.

這項發(fā)表在《當代生物學》科學期刊上的研究，觀察了新不倫瑞克坎貝爾頓地層中挖掘出的大約30塊巖石碎片。這種已經(jīng)滅絕的植物很可能屬于草本重晶石植物，生活在苔蘚覆蓋地面的時期，最終變成森林。

“Usually when we see heterosporous plants appear in the fossil record, they just sort of pop into existence,” said the study’s senior author, Andrew Leslie, in a statement. “We think this may be kind of a snapshot of this very rarely witnessed transition period in evolutionary history where you see high variation amongst spores in the reproductive structure.”

該研究的資深作者安德魯·萊斯利(Andrew Leslie)在一份聲明中說：“通常當我們看到化石記錄中出現(xiàn)異孢子植物時，它們就會突然出現(xiàn)。”。“我們認為這可能是進化史上罕見的過渡時期的快照，在進化史上，你可以看到孢子在生殖結(jié)構(gòu)上的高度變異。”

The plant produced spores that ranged in size from about 70 to 200 microns in diameter – about a strand to two strands of hair – which surprised researchers, considering the state they were found in.

這種植物產(chǎn)生的孢子直徑從70微米到200微米不等，跟一到兩根頭發(fā)差不多，考慮到它們的發(fā)現(xiàn)狀態(tài)，這令研究人員感到驚訝。

“It’s rare to get this many sporangia with well-preserved spores that you can measure,” Leslie added. “We just kind of got lucky in how they were preserved.”

萊斯利補充說：“很少有可以測量的保存完好的孢子的孢子囊。”。“我們只是幸運地發(fā)現(xiàn)了它們是如何被保存的。”

The discovery of the new species predates what was believed to be the oldest example of reproductive biology in plants by about 20 million years.

這種新物種的發(fā)現(xiàn)，比人們認為的最古老的植物繁殖生物學的例子早了大約2000萬年。

“These kinds of fossils help us locate when and how exactly plants achieved that kind of partitioning of their reproductive resources,” Leslie explained. “The very end of that evolutionary history of specialization is something like a flower.”

萊斯利解釋說：“這些化石有助于我們確定植物在何時、以及如何實現(xiàn)生殖資源的這種劃分。”。“專業(yè)化進化史的盡頭就像一朵花。”

Leslie said the newly discovered ancient species, which will later be described in a follow-up research paper, is unlike anything currently on planet Earth.

萊斯利說，這一新發(fā)現(xiàn)的古老物種與目前地球上的任何物種都不同，稍后將在后續(xù)研究論文中加以描述。

“The overarching story in land plant reproduction is one of increased division of labor and specialization and complexity, but that has to begin somewhere – and it began with simply producing small spores and big spores,” Leslie noted. “With these kinds of fossils, we can identify some ways the plants were able to do that.”

萊斯利指出：“陸地植物繁殖的首要任務是增加勞動分工、專業(yè)化和復雜性，但這必須從某個地方——從簡單地產(chǎn)生小孢子和大孢子開始。”。“有了這些化石，我們可以確定植物是如何做到這一點的。”