Measurements carried out in several beamlines of Sirius provided strong evidence for the classification of the fossil Spongiophyton nanum as a lichen, suggesting a strong contribution of these organisms to the process of evolution of life in terrestrial environments.
A broad international effort involving several research institutions brought together experts from Brazil, Australia, the United States, the United Kingdom and France to unravel a great enigma in the history of the evolution of life on Earth. The research, which was featured on the cover of the journal Science Advances, demonstrated that the organism Spongiophyton nanum was, in fact, one of the oldest and most widely distributed lichens in Earth’s history.
The researchers used multiple beamlines from Sirius — CNPEM’s synchrotron light source — during the investigations, employing advanced imaging and characterization techniques using synchrotron light, making it possible to reveal microstructures and chemical signatures preserved in fossils with very high resolution. The work also included experiments at other large international facilities, such as Diamond Light Source and Advanced Photon Source.
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Image: Artistic reconstruction of Spongiophyton nanum during the Early Devonian period in the polar environments of the Paraná Basin. Image from “The rise of lichens during the colonization of terrestrial environments”
Credit: Science Advances, 2024. Available at: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adw7879