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Some of the oldest landscapes on our planet appeared millions of years ago and are still thriving.
The history of the Earth spans more than 4,5 billion years, and during this time our planet has undergone many changes. Today, the entire surface of the Earth consists of biomes: within each of them there are many different ecosystems, which are constantly growing, spreading and teeming with life, writes IFLScience.
But which one appeared first and does it still exist on Earth? Because ecosystems are made up of constantly decaying parts, organisms that are alive at the beginning of a system's life cycle are unlikely to be alive at the end. Thus, the researchers believe that the "life of an ecosystem" can be considered similar to the life of our body: the cells of the human body are constantly regenerated, so almost none of the cells we were born with will reach our mature age. However. We will still be the same person. Likewise, an ecosystem is alive as long as its components continue to cycle energy and nutrients.
What is an ecosystem?
An ecosystem is a unit of ecology where the balance of living plant and animal life, climate, topography, and geology combine to create a particular environment. Ecosystems can be large or tiny, but together they cover the entire surface of our planet. In essence, smaller and smaller ecosystems are combined into larger ones, which are broader descriptions of landscapes and environmental conditions.
Consisting of two distinct broad types, terrestrial and aquatic, ecosystems contain both biotic and abiotic factors. Biotic factors are living things, such as animals and plants; abiotic factors - non-living things, such as stones, temperature and humidity.
The oldest ecosystem on Earth
Like the species within them, ecosystems grow, evolve, and die over time, but some do it better. For example, tropical forests, thanks to their resilience, were able to survive the ice ages, and therefore their age is at least 300 million years. This makes them one of the oldest ecosystems on the planet.
This ecosystem is home to almost half of all species and plants in the world, with tropical forests occupying no more than 6% of the planet's surface. As a result, they are also considered one of the most diverse ecosystems.
Aquatic ecosystems, such as reefs, are also capable of withstanding the test of time, so many have existed for hundreds of thousands of years. For example, the Great Barrier Reef in Australia is between 500 and 000 years old.
Although seagrass meadows are a relatively young type of ecosystem, first forming about 100 million years ago, corals have been found in fossilized reefs that are 500 million years old, making them a strong contender for the title of oldest ecosystem. However, studies show that coral reefs as we know them today have only existed for about 60 million years.
The oldest forest in the world
The oldest forest on Earth is considered to be a recently discovered area in the south-west of England. Scientists suspect that it is about 390 million years old. Today it is a group of now petrified trees, and earlier it consisted of plants, ancient flora and cladoxylopsids, an extinct group of plants.
