Forest – the photosphere of life in the Earth’s atmosphere

Abstract The evolution of the vertical, long distance water transport, overcoming gravitation, by trees during the Devonian, initiated the emerging of forest ecosystems extending the photosphere of life further into the Earth's atmosphere. The origin of woody tissues is likely associated with genome mutations in primitive green plants, which inhabited the land about 350 million years ago. Most probably, only two mutations were required – one allowing the synthesis of lignin and the second, enabling the autolysis of protoplast in the maturing cellular woody elements. Developing forest ecosystems formed the most productive environments, in which sunlight-dependent metabolic processes of life reached further into the atmosphere while at the same time allowing more water to be stored on the land surface, which in turn allowed for the evolution of numerous heterotrophic organisms. This property of the forest could therefore be considered an important factor in the evolution of hominids, which eventually contributed to the development of the Homo sapiens culture.