The evolution of land plant functional traits and how they terraformed Earth

Project Information

TERRAFORM

Grant agreement ID: 101020824

DOI

10.3030/101020824

EC signature date 5 July 2021

Start date 1 October 2021

End date 30 September 2027

Funded under

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - European Research Council (ERC)

Total cost

€ 2 498 066,25

EU contribution

€ 2 498 066,00

Coordinated by

THE PROVOST, FELLOWS, FOUNDATION SCHOLARS & THE OTHER MEMBERS OF BOARD, OF THE COLLEGE OF THE HOLY & UNDIVIDED TRINITY OF QUEEN ELIZABETH NEAR DUBLIN
Ireland

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - TERRAFORM (The evolution of land plant functional traits and how they terraformed Earth)

Reporting period: 2023-04-01 to 2024-09-30

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

TERRAFORM combines extinct plant trait ecology, advanced weathering experiments, & multi-scale modelling to examine how the terrestrial biosphere influenced carbon, nutrient, & water cycles in deep time.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

April – June 2023
•O’Dea (KOD) presents poster at Irish Environmental Researchers Colloquium, Donegal.
•Matthaeus (WM), Chondrogiannis (CC), Nair (RN) presented posters at EGU, Vienna
•Kwasniewska (KK) organized tender/purchase of handheld X-Ray fluorescence analyser (XRF)
•McDonald (SM) opens “The Boglands are Breathing” solo exhibit in the Model Gallery Sligo.
•McElwain (JM), Jackson (JJ), Barbosa (CB) host palaeobotanist Dr Cyrille Prestianni at Trinity for a seminar & postgraduate meeting
•JM & CC present plenary talk & poster respectively at Gordon Research Conference (GRC), Italy.
•Knetge (AK) trained in plant fossil cuticle preparation at U. Claude Bernard France, with Bernard Gomez (BG).
•CC & KOD run pilot weathering trial & develop protocols for larger weathering experiments.
•WM, JM publish “A Systems Approach to Understanding How Plants Transformed Earth's Environment..” in Annual Review of Earth Sciences.
•Yajima (MY), Banting (OB) & CC monitor long-term functional traits of ‘Witness Trees’ at TCD Botanic Gardens & prepare manuscript for Plants, People, Planet.

July – September 2023
•Planning/preparation of risk assessment to obtain licence for XRF (KK).
•KOD & CC measure photosynthetic traits of cycads including rare species from National Botanic Gardens (NBG).
•CC & KOD collaborate with UCD in field weathering study.
•JM presents plenary talks at “Trees through Time” BIFoR conference, Birmingham. UK, & 118th Congresso della Societa Botanica, Italy
•WM presents model update (WP6) at Life & Planet 2023.
•Tansley Review manuscript submitted.
•MY, CB, KOD organise European Researchers Night, showcasing TERRAFORM project. JM host tours for Culture Night.
•JM publishes ‘Cenozoic History of Atmospheric CO2‘ in Science. Downloaded >18,000 times, citations 53.

October 2023 – March 2024
•JM publishes first Climate Change Assessment Report for Ireland (3 reports) & paper in Nature Ecology & Evolution on evolution of N2 fixing symbiosis in Cycads.
•Organisation (KK) & attendance (all team) to full day XRF training (Niton)
•Team hosts palaeobotanist Dr. Anne-Laure Decombeiux (ALD) for seminar/discussion on fossil wood traits.
•WM presented at 11th Conference of International Biogeography Society, Prague.
•Submission of MRes thesis by JJ on paleo-traits
•Organisation & participation (CB, AK, WM, JM), in the first Irish Paleo Forum (IPF) in Cork & establishment of website
•Organisation (KK) & launch (all team) of the Variable Atmosphere & Light (VAL) Lab, showcasing plant growth chambers.
•Laboratory enrolled in SFI Green Lab initiative (KOD & CC).
•Tansley Review “Functional traits of fossil plants” published in New Phytologist. Downloaded 4922 times & 7 citations.
•Team hosts Dr Mario Corio, expert in cycad evolution for seminar/discussion on future joint experiments/publications
•Development of ‘day-length’ experiment (KK, CC, KOD); pilot weathering experiment runs in VAL.
•AK organises TCD Botany-Zoology Symposium & with CB present PhD results.
•SM gives talk ‘What remains’ at the Burren College of Art in Ballyvaughan, followed by installation showcasing recent work on climate change.
•Sedimentary mercury linked to large igneous province volcanism published by JM & collaborators (Kovács et al., 2024).

April - September 2024
•AK & CB begin development of fossil chemical analysis protocol.
•JM samples Mesozoic fossil plants from Field Museum, Chicago & Univ. of Oxford.
•WM & CB travel to University College Cork, perform leaf diagenesis experiments with Maria McNamara (WP1,2,6).
•CC & WM convene EGU 2024 sessions. KOD presented a poster .
•Lartigue-Peyrou (ALP) joins team for 9 week MSc internship performing WP5 litter decomposition experiments
•Intern, Yoshii Jiawei Xu joins team to support weathering experiments
•WM updates empirical model of xylem structure-function & presents poster at Life & Planet 2024
•AK & CB, fieldwork in Lyon France with BG collecting Mesozoic plant fossils.
•XI Int. Organisation of Palaeobotany Conference (IOPC) attended; CB & AK presented WP2 results; JM & WM delivered workshop & poster (WP1).
•Ailbhe Brazil joins the team to replace RN as a Teaching Fellow.
•CB & JX organise ERN, with AB & KOD showcasing TERRAFORM to general audience.
•WM & Jonathan P. Wilson co-lead museum survey of xylem fossils, establish xylem functional trait database (U. Connecticut, Yale U., Drexel U., Smithsonian)
•WM completes France Excellence Research Residency 2024, visiting AMAP Lab, Montpellier, France, with support from Anne-Laure Decombeix.
•WM updates model (Paleo-BGC v2.0) simulates Carboniferous ecosystem function
•KK CC, KOD, JX execute day-length experiment, tissue collection, data analysis.
•CC presents poster on CAM photosynthesis in cycads at ePS2, Padova.
•JJ graduates with MRes on Devonian plant paleotraits & thesis/metadata available online. JJ, JCM prepare publications.

*Weekly PI-chaired & team-led meetings for all reporting periods.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

WP1
Started; 100% Complete; On schedule
Tansley Review “Functional traits of fossil plants” published. It provides a roadmap for application of trait-based science in palaeobotany (McElwain et al. 2024). Fossil xylem functional traits database established (WM). Systems approach for paleo-traits published (Mattheus et al. 2023).

WP2
Started; 50% Complete; On Schedule
Curation and paleoecological analysis of >2000 Triassic-Jurassic Greenland fossils identifies precise timing of ecological turnover and plant extinction. Novel protocols for fossil plant chemical traits developed, tested & validated for application to Greenland fossils. Results published on sedimentary mercury link to volcanism (Kovács et al., 2024).

WP3
Started; 50% Complete; On Schedule
Analysis of Ginkgo demonstrates significant chemical trait differences in leaves from ambient & elevated grown CO2 (CC, JM). Crassulacean Acid Metabolism (CAM) photosynthesis detected in cycads using multiple methods; draft manuscript ready & poster presented (CC, KOD, JM). Timing of evolution of N2 fixing symbiosis in cycads identified from fossils (Kipp et al. 2024).

WP4
Started; 45% Complete; Behind Schedule
Pilot weathering experiment carried out & results analysed. Experimental methods tested & validated. Preparation for large-scale evolution experiment underway. KOD & CC detect reproductive effects of concrete addition as an NET on crops in field (collaboration UCD). 4 posters presented (CC,KOD).

WP5
Started; 50% Complete; On Schedule
Team (RN, WM, CC, JM) planned decomposition experiments, selected plant taxa & developed experimental methods. ALP executed pilot experiment in VAL lab, testing interactions between evolutionary group litter decomposition & elemental weathering rates; Manuscript under preparation & planned methods validated for full decomposition experiment.

WP6
Started; 60% Complete; On schedule
Paleo-ecosystem process model (Paleo-BGC) updated (WM) to incorporate fossil xylem traits in global simulations (Matthaeus et al.,2023). Model applied to the Late Palaeozoic. Fossil data for Triassic-Jurassic identified for Paleo-BGC simulations. Proxy paleo-atmospheric CO2 curve redeveloped to integrate with HadCM3 climate to drive ecosystem simulations (WM)

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