Vegetation has been a key part of the Earth's surface for only about 450 million years. With the progression of the terrestrial landscape from bare surfaces to widespread coverage by plants ...

Indeed, scientists have long wondered why land plants did not emerge on Earth until 450 million years ago, even though their progenitors, cyanobacteria, had been in existence for 2.7 billion years.

For now, the future ... plants, who feed on carbon dioxide, sunlight and water, and they will doubly suffer as surface temperatures increase due to the sun. As plants disappear, large life on ...