How Plants Caused the First Mass Extinction

PBS Member Stations rely on viewers like you. To support your local station, go to ↓ More info below ↓ Check out Journey to the Microcosmos: In the middle of the Cambrian, life on land was about to get a little more crowded. And those newcomers would end up changing the world. The arrival of plants on land would make the world colder, drain much of the oxygen out of the oceans and eventually, it would help cause a massive extinction event. Thanks to Fabrizio de Rossi for the excellent illustration of early terrestrial plants. You can find more of Fabrizio’s work here: And special thanks to Paul Strother for sending us an incredibly cool photo of an Ordovician plant spore for this video. Check out Paul’s website here: Credit for Paleogeographic Map: Scotese, C.R., 2019. Plate Tectonics, Paleogeography, an