Abstract Evolution of terrestrial plants, the first vascular plants, the first trees, and then whole forest ecosystems had far reaching consequences for Earth system dynamics. These innovations are considered important moments in the evolution of the atmosphere, biosphere, and oceans, even if the effects might have lagged by hundreds of thousands or millions of years. These fundamental changes in the Earth's history happened in the Paleozoic: from the Ordovician, the time of the first land plants, to the Carboniferous, dominated by forest ecosystems. The Devonian Plant Hypothesis (DPH) was the first concept to offer a full and logical explanation of the many environmental changes associated with the evolution of trees/forests that took place during this time period. The DPH highlighted the impact of deep-rooted vascular plants, particularly trees on weathering processes, pedogenesis, nutrient transport, CO2 cycling, organic and inorganic carbon deposition, and suggests further possible consequences on the marine realm (oceanic anoxia and extinction during the Late Devonian). Here we attempt to combine the DPH and the related expansion in biodiversity, the Devonian Plant Explosion (DePE), with the Biogeomorphic Ecosystem Engineering (BEE) concept. This idea connects tree growth and activity with initiation and/or alteration of geomorphic processes, and therefore the creation or deterioration of geomorphic landforms. We focus on trees and forest ecosystems, as the assumed dominant driver of plant-initiated change. We find that whereas there is a broad evidence of trees as important biogeomorphic ecosystem engineers, addressing the DPH is difficult due to limited, difficult to interpret, or controversial data. However, we argue the concept of BEE does shed new light on DPH and suggest new data sources that should be able to answer our main question: were Devonian trees Biogeomorphic Ecosystem engineers?

中文翻译：

---

树木和森林对泥盆纪景观和风化过程的影响以及对全球地球系统特性的影响——批判性评论

摘要 陆生植物、维管植物、树木和整个森林生态系统的进化对地球系统动力学产生了深远的影响。这些创新被认为是大气、生物圈和海洋演化的重要时刻，即使其影响可能滞后数十万或数百万年。地球历史上的这些根本性变化发生在古生代：从第一批陆地植物时代的奥陶纪到以森林生态系统为主的石炭纪。泥盆纪植物假说 (DPH) 是第一个对这一时期发生的与树木/森林进化相关的许多环境变化提供完整和合乎逻辑的解释的概念。DPH 强调了根深蒂固的维管植物的影响，尤其是树木在风化过程、成土作用、养分运输、二氧化碳循环、有机和无机碳沉积方面的研究，并提出了对海洋领域的进一步可能后果（晚泥盆世期间的海洋缺氧和灭绝）。在这里，我们尝试将 DPH 和相关的生物多样性扩张、泥盆纪植物爆炸 (DePE) 与生物地貌生态系统工程 (BEE) 概念结合起来。这个想法将树木的生长和活动与地貌过程的启动和/或改变联系起来，从而将地貌地貌的形成或恶化联系起来。我们关注树木和森林生态系统，它们被认为是植物引发变化的主要驱动力。我们发现，虽然有广泛的证据表明树木是重要的生物地貌生态系统工程师，但由于有限，解决 DPH 是困难的，难以解释或有争议的数据。然而，我们认为 BEE 的概念确实为 DPH 提供了新的思路，并提出了应该能够回答我们的主要问题的新数据源：泥盆纪树木是生物地貌生态系统工程师吗？