Links for Palaeobotanists 1

An annotated collection of pointers to information on palaeobotany
or to WWW resources which may be of use to palaeobotanists (with an Upper Triassic bias).

! C.K. Boyce and M.P. Nelsen (2025): Terrestrialization: toward a shared framework for ecosystem evolution. In PDF, Paleobiology, 51: 174-194. https://doi.org/10.1017/pab.2024.15: See here as well.
Note figure 1: Molecular clock dates and expectations for the fossil record.
Figure 3: Fungal phylogeny, distribution of ecologies, and proportional representation of different lineages in the Lower Devonian Rhynie Chert versus the modern world.
Figure 5: Stratigraphic distribution of fossil first occurrences in the land plant record.

Denver Museum of Nature and Science, Denver, Colorado:
DMNS Paleobotany Collection. This website contains over 1000 images of fossil plants spanning the late Cretaceous through early Eocene from the Western Interior of North America. Go to: Identification Flow Chart, or start with
Morphotype a Flora. A guide to morphotyping (or binning) a fossil flora step-by-step.
These expired links are now available through the Internet Archive´s Wayback Machine.

! Y. Song et al. (2024): Lightning-induced wildfires: An overview. Open access, Fire, 7.
"... This review presents information that gives a profound understanding of lightning-induced wildfires, especially factors that influence lightning wildfires, and the state-of-the-art research that has been completed to understand lightning-induced wildfires ..."

A.B. Frank et al. (2025): Oxic conditions in shallow marine settings during the Permian-Triassic Mass Extinction. Free access, EarthArXiv, https://doi.org/10.31223/X5K135.
"... The concept that ultra-shallow marine anoxia was a major cause of the Permian-Triassic mass extinction was partly based on sections from the Dolomites (Italy). We test this hypothesis by re-examining the Dolomites record, utilizing an updated redox sensitive trace metal (V, U and 22 Mo) approach, combined with Fe speciation and Th/U ratios, and paleontological observations ..."

James D. Mauseth, Integrative Biology, University of Texas: Plant Anatomy Laboratory:
Micrographs of plant cells and tissues. With explanatory text.
Still available via Internet Archive Wayback Machine.

R. Barclay, P. Wilf, D. Dilcher, A. Sokoloff, J. Leon-Guerrero & C. Thurman: Cuticle Database. The Cuticle Database Project aims to promote the understanding and identification of living and fossil plants. This project is a collaborative effort between researchers at Northwestern University, The Field Museum, the Florida Museum of Natural History, and Pennsylvania State University. Note especially:
! R. Barclay, et al. (2007): The cuticle database: developing an interactive tool for taxonomic and paleoenvironmental study of the fossil cuticle record. PDF file, In: Jarzen, D. M., Steven, R., Retallack, G. J. and Jarzen, S. A. (eds.), Advances in Angiosperm Paleobotany and Paleoclimatic Reconstruction, Contributions Honouring David L. Dilcher and Jack A. Wolfe, Courier Forschungsinstitut Senckenberg, Frankfurt, pgs. 39-56.
Still available via Internet Archive Wayback Machine.

V. Masson-Delmotte et al., (2013): Information from Paleoclimate Archives. PDF file, In: Climate Change 2013: The Physical Science Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Cambridge University Press.

J.J. Wiens and Z. Emberts (2025): How life became colourful: colour vision, aposematism, sexual selection, flowers, and fruits. In PDF, Biological Reviews, doi: 10.1111/brv.13141.
See likewise here.
"... Colourful flowers likely evolved ~200 million years ago (Mya), whereas colourful fruits/seeds likely evolved ~300 Mya. Colour vision (sensu lato) appears to be substantially older, and likely originated ~400�500 Mya in both arthropods and chordates ..."

V. Lariviere and C.R. Sugimoto (2019): The journal impact factor: A brief history, critique, and discussion of adverse effects. In PDF, Springer handbook of science and technology Indicators, pp 3�24.
See also here.
"... The inflation of the JIF [Journal Impact Factor} and the weakening predictive power is discussed, as well as the adverse effects on the behaviors of individual actors
[...] the JIF will likely remain part of the research ecosystem and as long as journals remain the primary mechanism for diffusing new knowledge, their reputation. ..."

! M. dos Reis et al. (2016): Bayesian molecular clock dating of species divergences in the genomics era. In PDF, Nature Reviews Genetics, 17: 71-80. https://doi.org/10.1038/nrg.2015.8.
See here as well.
"... It has been five decades since the proposal of the molecular clock hypothesis, which states that the rate of evolution at the molecular level is constant through time and among species
[...] With recent advances in Bayesian clock dating methodology and the explosive accumulation of genetic sequence data, molecular clock dating has found widespread applications, from tracking virus pandemics, to studying the macroevolutionary process of speciation and extinction, to estimating a timescale for Life on Earth ..."

R. Moench and J. Fusaro (2003): Soil Erosion Control after Wildfire. In PDF, Colorado State University, Fact sheet N. 6308. (Boulder, CO).

C. Ragon et al. (2025): Comparison between plant fossil assemblages and simulated biomes across the Permian-Triassic Boundary. In PDF, Frontiers in Earth Science, 13:1520846. doi: 10.3389/feart.2025.1520846.
"... climatic perturbations are recorded in land plant macrofossil assemblages, which reflect complex changes in major biomes at the stage level. In this study, we quantitatively compare the major biomes reconstructed from the plant macrofossil assemblage data with those derived from coupled climate�vegetation simulations across the PTB [Permian�Triassic boundary]
[...] Our findings indicate that a shift from a cold climatic state to one with a mean surface temperature approximately 10°C higher is consistent with observed changes over time in plant biomes, as documented in macrofossil records ..."

! M.J. Bierenbroodspot et al. (2025): Phylogeny and evolution of streptophyte algae. Open access, Annals of Botany, 134: 385�400.
Note figure 1: Biodiversity along the phylogeny of the green lineage, with focus on streptophyte algae. A cladogram of the current status of streptophyte relationships from the latest molecular phylogenetic and phylogenomic studies.
"... We illustrate how new phylogenomic perspectives have changed our view on the evolutionary emergence of key traits, such as intricate signalling networks that are intertwined with multicellular growth and the chemodiverse hotbed from which they emerged. These traits are key for the biology of land plants but were bequeathed from their algal progenitors ..."

D. Chu et al. (2025): Diachronous end-Permian terrestrial crises in North and South China. In PDF, Geology, 53: 55�60. See here as well.
"... Our integrated paleontology and geochemistry study indicates that the onset of the terrestrial crisis in North China preceded that in South China by at least 300 k.y. Geological and Earth system modeling suggest that lethal heatwaves and aridity, along with enhanced climate seasonality, were caused by higher atmospheric CO₂
[...] Our results indicate that, rather than a globally synchronous event, cumulative regional extirpations ultimately resulted in a global terrestrial extinction ..."

! W.A. DiMichele et al. (2020): Uplands, lowlands, and climate: Taphonomic megabiases and the apparent rise of a xeromorphic, drought-tolerant flora during the Pennsylvanian-Permian transition. Abstract, Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 559. See here as well (in PDF).
Note figure 7: Underground and surface coal mine exposures and wetland flora; fig. 7B: Sigillaria tree stump rooted in thin, unnamed Middle Pennsylvanian coal.
! Figure 8: Pennsylvanian landscape reconstructions.
"... In this paper, we present an alternative interpretation: that the apparent transition in Pennsylvanian-Permian tropical vegetation reflects two types of taphonomic megabias. First is a preservational megabias, strongly favoring the vegetation of humid climates over that of seasonally dry climates
[...] Second is an analytical megabias, strongly favoring the discovery and collection of the wetland biome from Pennsylvanian strata ..."

E.J. Spagnuolo et al. (2024): Reconstructing the Botanical Past: Art and Paleobotany. Free access, Plant Science Bulletin, 70. See also here.
Note figure 1: Representative examples of plant paleoart throughout history and modern plant-centered paleoart.