Early plants had already expanded massively on land over 400 million years ago, according to the latest research evidence.

One of the core questions in the study of Earth system evolution is when early plants began to expand on land and impact the Earth system. Research conducted by the team of Dr. Mingyu Zhao from the Institute of Geology and Geophysics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has discovered new geochemical evidence indicating that land plants began shaping the surface environment of the Earth earlier than previously thought. The related research findings were published on February 24 in the international academic journal "Nature Ecology & Evolution".