Published in Nature Geoscience · View the paper (DOI)
Researchers found that the oxygen produced by photosynthesis is limited by the time available during shorter days, as late-rising cyanobacteria need a few hours to photosynthesize and produce oxygen. This discovery suggests that changes in day length may have impacted global oxygen levels over Earth's history.
Coverage from 2 institutions
- A long day for microbes, and the rise of oxygen on Earth Max-Planck-Gesellschaft · Aug 2, 2021 · first to report
- Lake Huron sinkhole surprise: The rise of oxygen on early Earth linked to changing planetary rotation rate University of Michigan · Aug 2, 2021