The benefits of mycoirhizae

摘要

THE VILLAGE OF Rhynie, in Scotland, would be unremarkable save for one thing. On its outskirts there is an outcrop of a hard silicaceous rock called chert, formed around 390 million years ago from deposits left behind by repeated inundations from nearby hot springs. Embedded in the chert are uniquely well preserved fossils of some of the earliest land plants, helping botanists solve one of the key questions in plant evolution - how did those pioneering plants survive in such a hostile environment?