Editing Moss (section)

==Geological history==
[[File:RedMoss.jpg|thumb|right|[[Polytrichum piliferum|Bristly Haircap]] moss, a winter native of the [[Yorkshire Dales]] [[moorland]]]]
The fossil record of moss is sparse, due to their soft-walled and fragile nature. Unambiguous moss fossils have been recovered from as early as the [[Permian]] of Antarctica and Russia, and a case has been made for [[Carboniferous]] mosses.<ref name=Thomas1972>{{cite journal
 | author = Thomas, B.A.
 | year = 1972
 | title = A probable moss from the Lower Carboniferous of the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire
 | journal = Annals of Botany
 | volume = 36
 | issue = 1
 | pages = 155–161
 | issn = 1095-8290
 | jstor= 42752024
| doi = 10.1093/oxfordjournals.aob.a084568
 }}</ref> It has further been claimed that tube-like fossils from the [[Silurian]] are the macerated remains of moss [[calyptræ]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=Kodner |first=R. B. |author2=Graham, L. E. |year=2001 |title=High-temperature, acid-hydrolyzed remains of ''Polytrichum'' (Musci, Polytrichaceae) resemble enigmatic Silurian-Devonian tubular microfossils |journal=American Journal of Botany |volume=88 |issue=3 |pages=462–466 |doi=10.2307/2657111 |pmid=11250824 |jstor=2657111 }}</ref> Mosses also appear to evolve 2–3 times slower than ferns, [[gymnosperm]]s and [[angiosperm]]s.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Slow molecular evolution in 18S rDNA, ''rbcL'' and ''nad5'' genes of mosses compared with higher plants |journal=Journal of Evolutionary Biology |date=2008 |last1=Stenøien |first1=H. K. |doi=10.1111/j.1420-9101.2007.01479.x |volume=21 |issue = 2|pages=566–571 |pmid=18205784 |doi-access=free }}</ref>

Recent research shows that ancient moss could explain why the [[Ordovician]] ice ages occurred. When the ancestors of today's moss started to spread on land 470&nbsp;million years ago, they absorbed CO<sub>2</sub> from the atmosphere and extracted minerals by secreting organic acids that dissolved the rocks they were growing on. These chemically altered rocks in turn reacted with the atmospheric CO<sub>2</sub> and formed new carbonate rocks in the ocean through the weathering of calcium and magnesium ions from silicate rocks. The weathered rocks also released significant amounts of phosphorus and iron which ended up in the oceans, where it caused massive algal blooms, resulting in organic carbon burial, extracting more carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Small organisms feeding on the nutrients created large areas without oxygen, which caused a mass extinction of marine species, while the levels of CO<sub>2</sub> dropped all over the world, allowing the formation of ice caps on the poles.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn21417-first-land-plants-plunged-earth-into-ice-age.html |title=First land plants plunged Earth into ice age |publisher=Newscientist.com |access-date=2013-09-11 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130923230406/http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn21417-first-land-plants-plunged-earth-into-ice-age.html |archive-date=2013-09-23 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120201094923.htm |title=First Plants Caused Ice Ages, New Research Reveals |publisher=Sciencedaily.com |date=2012-02-01 |access-date=2013-09-11 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131003153329/https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120201094923.htm |archive-date=2013-10-03 }}</ref>