Yes there is evidence of early Cambrian colonization by land plants. The paper you reference is consistent with the molecular evidence:
quote:
Heckman, DS; Geiser, DM; Eidell, BR; Stauffer, RL; Kardos, NL; Hedges, SB. Molecular evidence for the early colonization of land by fungi and plants. Science. 2001;293:1129-1133. doi: 10.1126/science.1061457.
There are also other papers presenting fossil evidence of primitive land plants in the Cambrian, such as:
quote:
Wang, D. Y., Kumar, S., and Hedges, S. B., 1999, Divergence time estimates for the early history of animal phyla and the origin of plants, animals and fungi, Proc. Roy. Soc. London. B Biol. 266: 163-171.
However, I’m not sure that this all means what you think it means. From the abstract of your reference:
quote:
“Evidence from cryptospores now indicates that ancestral embryophytes, some of which were at a bryophyte grade of evolution, were abundant colonizers of the land surface by Middle Cambrian time.”
What exactly does this mean to you and how do you explain the evidence within the context of a young earth?
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