Vegetation as a major conductor of geomorphic changes on the Earth surface: Toward evolutionary geomorphology

Abstract

Earth surface processes and landforms may have coadjusted† with plant morphology, biomechanics and life-history. We suggest that the colonization of land by plants at the early Silurian, and their propagation inside continents, represent critical phases of the coupling between geomorphic and biological processes on the Earth at a global scale. The consideration of this coupling involving geomorphic-biological feedback mechanisms at the scales of ecological succession and organisms' evolution may promote the emergence of an evolutionary† geomorphology. © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.