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White rot fungi broke down lignin in dead wood leading to second wave of decomposition
After EPE, slow recovery, possibly via lichens, both hemispheres gave way to conifer and cycad vegetation.
Vegetation
Vegetation
100my
Mineral
Mineral
Lush landscape became a cauldron of magma
Lichenson rocks
Oxisols -
implies change in the number of wet months
implies change in the number of wet months
Animals
Animals
Soil fauna, now feeding on breakdown of dead wood, lignin, mixed the soil to differentiate horizons.
Lohmannioid mid-oribatid mite
Leatherjacket - fly larvae
Start State
Start State
300mya is a good time to check on what the soil looks like. Rhizome-type roots helped develop deeper roots and their rhizospheres. The roots supported fungi which produced glomalin. This provided the energy through - glomalisation to help drive the first wave of decomposition, mineralisation, which enabled plant nutrient recycling. Glomalisation also provided, thanks to the springtails, of the glue to make aggregates and pores for small soil arthropods to run round.
There was increased leeching produced by more water movement though soil, and also a 2nd wave of decomposition, enabled by white rot fungi breaking down the lignin in dead wood. This in turn provided food for the first beetles, oribatids and springtails
Finish State
Finish State
Despite the EPE, soil recovered by 200mya, showing the first signs of horizons - After the great extinction (EPE) there must have been islands of soil that survived but much of the earth was bare, and may well have survived because of lichens and how the remaining soils mixed. Other insect larvae started to live in sol, as a complete new phase in their metamorphosis, enabling their adults to to take to the air.
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