Six hundred million years earlier than thought:
The first photosynthetic oxygen-producing organisms on Earth were cyanobacteria. Their evolution dramatically changed the Earth allowing oxygen to accumulate into the atmosphere for the first time and further allowing the evolution of oxygen-utilizing organisms including eukaryotes. Eukaryotes include animals, but also algae, a broad group of photosynthetic oxygen-producing organisms that now dominate photosynthesis in the modern oceans. When, however, did algae begin to occupy marine ecosystems and compete with cyanobacteria as important phototrophic organisms?
In a new study Zhang et al use the molecular remains of ancient algae (so-called biomarkers) to show that algae occupied an important role in marine ecosystems 1400 million years ago, some 600 million years earlier than previously recognized.
Professor Don Canfield, Nordic Center for Earth Evolution, University of Southern Denmark, a co-author on the study adds: “We hope that our study will inspire others to utilize similar techniques to better unravel the full history of eukaryote evolution through geologic time.”
University of Southern Denmark, “A rich marine algal ecosystem 600 million years earlier than previously thought” at ScienceDaily (April 16, 2021)
Well then, how did a complex process like photosynthesis get the time to “evolve” by natural selection acting on random mutations (Darwinism)?
Researchers (wisely, for now) state such findings without making any obvious inferences. But the numbers of these situations are building.
We are developing two separate stories: One is the design story the research record actually shows and the other is the Darwinian flimflam marketed to the public on science shows.
Anyone’s guess how long the divide can last without being noticed.
The paper is closed access.
See also: If photosynthesis could really be as old as life itself… Well, that’s good news for the hope of finding life on other planets! But researchers hoping to rush in and save Darwinism should know that if the earliest organisms could photosynthesize, an intelligent origin of life is virtually certain.