Re: How many mya did Fungi, Animalia, and Plantae first appear?

Dear Susan, Representing geologic time on paper is a great way to give students a new perspective on how "young" life really is. One of my college biology professors used a roll of paper towels to do the same thing, and it was quite effective.

As you know, pinpointing the origin of each phyla is not an exact science. Oftentimes, the fossil record is incomplete, especially for animals and plants whose structures aren't conducive to fossilization. However, I have found several excellent references on evolution. The Museum of Palentology at the University of California, Berkeley has a detailed, user-friendly website, complete with pictures of fossils.

Fungi are thought to have first appeared in the late Precambrian era known as the Vendian or Ediacaran period, 650-540 million years ago (mya). For a more complete explanation of the fungi fossil record and information on each period see http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/fungi/fungifr.html.

Plants evolved from green algae of the phylum Chlorophyta. Non- vascular plants entered the scene in the Ordovician period (505-440 mya). Vascular plants did not appear until the Devonian (410-360 mya). Again, UC- Berkeley offers a superb graphical representation of the fossil record for each major group of plants.

The earliest fossils of the animal kingdom were found in Australia. These soft bodied animals , like the fungi, existed in the Ediacaran period (late- Precambrian) about 560 mya. The earliest known chordates, animals with notochords and thus ancestors of vertebrate , were Pikaia. Chordate fossils are found in the Burgess Shale and are approximately 530 million years old.

Finally, Stephen Jay Gould has an interesting perspective on the evolution of animal life in relation to geologic time: http:// www.biozentrum.uni-wuerzburg.de/~brembs/gould.html

I hope this information helps. Please visit the websites, as I think they do an excellent job of conveying complicated information. Good luck with your project!

-Tinsley