Home / Preservation & Taphonomy / Abscission and Tissue Separation in Fossil and Extant Plants

Fredrick T. Addicott (1983): Abscission. Google books, limited preview.

Answers.com: Abscission.

W. Arshad et al. (2020): Fracture of the dimorphic fruits of Aethionema arabicum (Brassicaceae). In PDF, Botany, NCR Research Press. See also here.

K.L. Bacon et al. (2015): Can atmospheric composition influence plant fossil preservation potential via changes in leaf mass per area? A new hypothesis based on simulated palaeoatmosphere experiments. Abstract, Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. See also here (in PDF).

G. Bohrer et al. (2008): Effects of canopy heterogeneity, seed abscission and inertia on wind-driven dispersal kernels of tree seeds. In PDF, Journal of Ecology, 96: 569-580.
Website outdated. The link is to a version archived by the Internet Archive´s Wayback Machine.

Plant Sciences, BookRags: Deciduous Plants.

! R.J. Burnham (1993): Reconstructing Richness in the Plant Fossil Record. Abstract, Palaios, 8: 376-384.

! R.J. Burnham et al. (1992): The reflection of deciduous forest communities in leaf litter: implications for autochthonous litter assemblages from the fossil record. PDF file, Paleobiology, 18: 30-49.
See also here.
Note fig. 1: Three steps in the process of plant taphonomy.

G.E. Burrows et al. (2007): An Anatomical Assessment of Branch Abscission and Branch-base Hydraulic Architecture in the Endangered Wollemia nobilis. PDF file, Annals of Botany, 99: 609-623. See also here (abstract).

! C.J. Cleal (2022): The Craigleith Tree (“Pitys withamii Tree”): Morphology, taxonomy, preservation and ecological context. In PDF.
Note figures on PDF page 6: Reconstruction of tree bearing the Pitys primaeva trunk (the Tweed Mill Tree) proposed by Retallack & Dilcher (1988).

! C.J. Cleal and B.A. Thomas (2021): Naming of parts: the use of fossil-taxa in palaeobotany. In PDF, Fossil Imprint, 77: 166–186.
See also here.

Christopher J. Cleal et al. (2009): A Revision of the Pennsylvanian-Aged Eremopteris-Bearing Seed Plant. Int. J. Plant Sci., 170: 666.698. Helically arranged compound leaves that show evidence they were actively abscissed from the plant.

D.-F. Cui et al. (2022): A Jurassic flower bud from China. In PDF, Geological Society, London. See also here.
"... The leaf scars are 0.4–0.6 mm wide and 0.23 mm thick, with terminal abscission zones (Fig. 3b, d & e). ..."

John Dawson, Forest Vines to Snow Tussocks: The Story of New Zealand Plants (Part of New Zealand Texts Collection): How do plants become fossils?

W.A. DiMichele et al. (2022): Stigmaria: A Review of the Anatomy, Development, and Functional Morphology of the Rootstock of the Arboreous Lycopsids. Abstract, International Journal of Plant Sciences.
"... We reevaluate the conventional view that the rootlets were abscised, ..."
"... In soil, rootlets improved anchorage, whereas in open water, largely hollow mature roots may have enhanced stigmarian system buoyancy and nucleated floating peat mats. ..."

W.A. DiMichele (1998): Love´s labour lost? Or the tragic story of a young paleontologist who chooses fossil plants ... PDF file, Palaios 13.
Snapshot provided by the Internet Archive´s Wayback Machine.
Scroll down to PDF page 3: "The problems of the parts".

B. Ellis and K.R. Johnson (2013): Comparison of leaf samples from mapped tropical and temperate forests: Implications for interpretations of the diversity of fossil assemblages. Abstract, Palaios.

! E.H. Estornell et al. (2013): Elucidating mechanisms underlying organ abscission. Abstract, Plant Science, 199–200: 48-60.
See also here (in PDF).

Robert A. Gastaldo, Colby College: Plants as keys to past climatic conditions.
Now recovered from the Internet Archive´s Wayback Machine.

C.T. Gee and R.A. Gastaldo (2005): Sticks and Mud, Fruits and Nuts, Leaves and Climate: Plant Taphonomy Comes of Age. PDF file, Palaios, 20: 415-418.
Still available via Internet Archive Wayback Machine.
"... Necrology involves the death of a plant or the loss of a plant part, either by traumatic causes (wind, storm, animal damage) or by pre-programmed physiological changes on the part of the plant (abscission, dehiscence) ..."

! D.R. Greenwood (1991): The Taphonomy of Plant Macrofossils. PDF file, chapter 7, pp. 141-169;
In: Donovan, S.K. (Ed.) The Processes of Fossilization. Belhaven Press, London, 303 pp.

H. Gupta, Biologydiscussion.com: Senescence and Abscission of Leaves.

Jody L. Haynes, The Cycad Society: Illustrated Glossary of Cycad Terms. Go to: abscission, abscission layer.

R. Heady (2012): The Wollemi Pine—16 years on. In PDF, Chapter 15: Australia’s Ever-changing Forests VI: Proceedings of the Eighth National Conference on Australian Forest History. Brett J. Stubbs et al. (ed.).
Snapshot provided by the Internet Archive´s Wayback Machine.

R.D. Heady and G.E. Burrows (2008): Features of the secondary xylem that facilitate branch abscission in juvenile Wollemia nobilis. In PDF, IAWA Journal, 29: 225-236.

Roger Highfield: Why leaves fall off trees is discovered. Telegraph, UK, September 22, 2008.
Snapshot taken by the Internet Archive´s Wayback Machine.

R.S. Hill, (1981): Consequences of long-distance dispersal of plant macrofossils. Free access, New Zealand Journal of Botany, 19: 241-242.

! K.-P. Kelber & J.H.A. van Konijnenburg-van Cittert (1998): Equisetites arenaceus from the Upper Triassic of Germany with evidence for reproductive strategies. Abstract, Rev. Palaeobot. Palynol., 100: 1-26. See also here (in PDF). Actively abscissed strobili and branches with adventitious roots.
Paper awarded with the Winfried and Renate Remy Award 1999 (Paleobotanical Section), Botanical Society of America.

H. Kerp et al. (2013): Reproductive organs and in situ spores of Asteroxylon mackiei Kidston & Lang, the most complex plant from the lower Devonian Rhynie chert. In PDF, Int. J. Plant Sci., 174: 293-308.

Hans Kerp, Forschungsstelle für Paläobotanik, Münster: A History of Palaeozoic Forests. Go to:
Part 2: The Carboniferous coal swamp forests. See fig. 2, leaf scars on a a Lepidophloios stem.
Snapshots provided by the Internet Archive´s Wayback Machine.

T.T. Kozlowski (ed.), 1973: Shedding of Plants Parts. Abstracts. See also here (Google books).

V.A. Krassilov (2009): Diversity of Mesozoic Gnetophytes and the First Angiosperms. PDF file, Paleontological Journal, 43: 1272-1280. Order Heerales showing abscission scars.
Now provided by the Internet Archive´s Wayback Machine.

V.A. Krassilov et al. (1998): New ephedroid plant from the Lower Cretaceous Koonwarra Fossil Bed, Victoria, Australia. In PDF, Alcheringa, 22: 123-133. See also here.

! Cindy V. Looy (2013): Natural history of a plant trait: branch-system abscission in Paleozoic conifers and its environmental, autecological, and ecosystem implications in a fire-prone world. Abstract, Paleobiology, 39: 235-252. See also here (in PDF).

S.R. Manchester et al. (2022): Two-seeded cones of probable gnetalean affinity from the Morrison Formation (Late Jurassic) of Utah and Colorado, USA. Free access, Acta Palaeobotanica, 62: 77–92.
"... with cones showing lines of dehiscence, indicate that each seed was shed by the abscission of a lateral valve. ..."

Keith H. Meldahl (2007): Autochthonous leaf assemblages as records of deciduous forest communities: an actualistic study. Abstract, Lethaia, 28: 383-394.

W.F. Millington and W.R. Chaney (1973): Shedding of shoots and branches. Google books.

R. Nathan et al. (2008): Mechanisms of long-distance seed dispersal. Abstract, Trends in Ecology & Evolution, 23: 638-647. See also here (in PDF).

S.A. Owens et al. (1998): Degradation of the upper pulvinus in modern and fossil leaves of Cercis (Fabaceae). Open access, American Journal of Botany, 85: 273-284.

! O.R. Patharkar and J.C. Walker (2019): Connections between abscission, dehiscence, pathogen defense, drought tolerance, and senescence. In PDF, Plant Science, 284: 25-29.
See also here.

O.R. Patharkar and J.C. Walker (2016): Core mechanisms regulating developmentally timed and environmentally triggered abscission. Free access, Plant Physiology, 172: 510–520.

Michael S. Reid: Ethylene and Abscission. PDF file.
Snapshot taken by the Internet Archive´s Wayback Machine.

J.A. Roberts et. al. (2000): Cell Separation Processes in Plants - Models, Mechanisms and Manipulation. In PDF, Annals of Botany, 86: 223-235.

! R.A. Spicer (1989): Physiological characteristics of land plants in relation to environment through time. In PDF, Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of The Royal Society of Edinburgh, 80.
See also here.
! Note chapter 2.4. Abscission.

N.A. Stanich et al. (2009): Phylogenetic diversification of Equisetum (Equisetales) as inferred from Lower Cretaceous species of British Columbia, Canada. In PDF, Am. J. Bot., 96: 1289-1299.
See also here.
"... in Fig. 14). It is unclear whether this is the result of leaf tip abscission or incomplete preservation. ..."

! B.A. Thomas and C.J. Cleal (2022): A reassessment of the leafy shoots of Pennsylvanian-age arborescent lycopods. Open acces, Botany Letters, DOI: 10.1080/23818107.2022.2101517.
See also here.
Note figure 1: Reconstruction of arborescent lycopsids of the Pennsylvanian-age palaeotropical coal swamps of Euramerica.

! B.A. Thomas (2014): In situ stems: preservation states and growth habits of the Pennsylvanian (Carboniferous) calamitaleans based upon new studies of Calamites Sternberg, 1820 in the Duckmantian at Brymbo, North Wales, UK. Free access, Palaeontology, 57: 21–36.

B.A. Thomas et al. (2010): Leafy branches of Bothrodendron punctatum from the Westphalian D (Asturian) of Nova Scotia, Canada. PDF file, Atlantic Geology, 46: 1-6. Branch shedding and abscission scars.

! B.A. Thomas and C.J. Cleal (1999): Abscission in the fossil record. In PDF.

! B.A. Thomas and C.J. Cleal (1999): Abscission in the fossil record.- p. 183-203. In: Kurmann, M.H. and Hemsley, A.R. (eds.): The evolution of plant architecture. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Sorry, no online abstract currently available.

W.G. van Doom and A.D. Stead (1997): Abscission of flowers and floral parts. In PDF, Journal of Experimental Botany, 48: 821-837.

Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:
Abscission.
Deciduous.
Marcescence.

G. Wu et al. (2024): Advances in understanding the mechanisms of organ abscission in vivo and in vitro plants. Abstract, Plant Growth Regulation. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10725-024-01126-0.
"... This paper reviews the organ abscission mechanism from the perspectives of cell histology, physiological biochemistry and molecular biology and looks forward to organ abscission research, which aims to fully clarify the plant organ abscission mechanism ..."

! J. Wu et al. (2022): Physiology of plant responses to water stress and related genes: A Review. Open access, Forests, 13.
Note figure 1: Changes to the morphological and anatomical structure of plant leaves and roots due to water stress.