Life's a beach - the colonization of the terrestrial environment

How plants conquered land: evolution of terrestrial adaptation

The transition of plants from water to land is considered one of the most significant events in the evolution of life on Earth. The colonization of land by plants, accompanied by their morphological, physiological and developmental changes, resulted in plant biodiversity. Besides significantly influencing oxygen levels in the air and on land, plants manufacture organic matter from CO₂ and water with the help of sunlight, paving the way for the diversification of nonplant lineages ranging from microscopic organisms to animals. Land plants regulate the climate by adjusting total biomass and energy flow. At the genetic level, these innovations are achieved through the rearrangement of pre-existing genetic information. Advances in genome sequencing technology are revamping our understanding of plant evolution. This study highlights the morphological and genomic innovations that allow plants to integrate life on Earth.