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).

! W. Steffen et al, (2020): The emergence and evolution of Earth System Science. In PDF, Nature Reviews Earth & Environment, 1: 54�63.
See also here. "... ESS [Earth System Science] has produced new concepts and frameworks central to the global-change discourse, including the Anthropocene, tipping elements and planetary boundaries. Moving forward, the grand challenge for ESS is to achieve a deep integration of biophysical processes and human dynamics to build a truly unified understanding of the Earth System ..."

Allen A. Debus, Fossil News: The Art of Paleocatastrophe. How paleoartists have portrayed catastrophic events in life´s past.
Still available via Internet Archive Wayback Machine.

! BioDeepTime:
This project seeks to address one of the central challenges in biodiversity science by compiling and harmonizing ecological time series from modern and fossil sources to investigate how biological dynamics and drivers vary across timescales ranging from months to millions of years. Note likewise here.
Please take notice:
! J. Smith et al. (2023): BioDeepTime: A database of biodiversity time series for modern and fossil assemblages. Open access, Global Ecol Biogeogr.
Note table 1: Approximate temporal grain (the amount of time represented in a sample) for time series, number of time series and number of samples from source databases included in BioDeepTime.
"... The BioDeepTime database enables integrated biodiversity analyses across a far greater range of temporal scales than has previously been possible. It can be used to provide critical insights into how natural systems will respond to ongoing and future environmental changes as well as new opportunities for theoretical insights into the temporal scaling of biodiversity dynamics ..."

! Museum of Paleontology, University of California, Berkeley:
The Cleared Leaf Collection. Excellent!
An image gallery of modern leaves that have been bleached and stained to make their venation patterns more visible. Leaf shape, venation, and features of the margin, base and apex constitute important taxonomic and physiognomic characters.
You can search the collection from the
Paleontology Collections Photos page or
the collection at the Modern Cleared Leaf Photos page.
Don't miss the helpful
! Manual of Leaf Architecture. In PDF.

! Robert A. Rohde, International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS):
GeoWhen Database. GeoWhen Database is an attempt to sort out the mess that man has made of the geologic timescale. This project aims to reconcile the international stratigraphic standards with many of the regional and archaic naming schemes that appear in the literature. The central stratigraphic classification and dates are based on the 2004 time scale endorsed by the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS) and documented in Gradstein, Ogg, Smith, et al., A Geologic Time Scale 2004. Go to:
Triassic.

Stephen Miller (1989): Gaia Hypothesis. An introduction. All quotes from James Lovelock, taken from The Ages of Gaia.
Still available via Internet Archive Wayback Machine.

Y. Goddéris et al. (2023): What models tell us about the evolution of carbon sources and sinks over the Phanerozoic. Open access, Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences, 51: 471-492.
Note figure 1: Overview of the feedback loop and causal links between the various component of the surficial Earth system.
"... In the present contribution, we review some crucial events in coupled Earth-climate-biosphere evolution over the past 540 million years
[...] Numerical models now allow us to address increasingly complex processes
[...] models of the carbon cycle in deep time coupled with increasingly complex ecological models are emerging ..."

T.L. Dutra and A. Crisafulli (2022): Petrified woods in the mesozoic of southern Brazil. In PDF, Brazilian Paleofloras: From Paleozoic to Holocene.
See also here.
"... This chapter summarizes the main components of xylotaphofloras that have been studied since the twentieth century ..."

K.J. Lang, Fachgebiet Pathologie der Waldbäume, Technische Universität München (TUM):
Gehölzkrankheiten in Wort und Bild, and Fäuleerreger in Wort und Bild (in German).
These expired links are now available through the Internet Archive´s Wayback Machine.

! T. Denk et al, (2023): Cenozoic migration of a desert plant lineage across the North Atlantic. Free access, New Phytologist, 238: 2668�2684.
Note figure 5: Timing and mode of intercontinental Madrean�Tethyan disjunctions of sclerophyllous plants.
"... The fossil record suggests that Vauquelinia, currently endemic to arid and subdesert environments, originated under seasonally arid climates in the Eocene of western North America and subsequently crossed the Paleogene North Atlantic land bridge (NALB) to Europe. This pattern is replicated by other sclerophyllous, dry-adapted and warmth-loving plants ..."
Also worth checking out:
! R.S. Hill and R. Khan (2023): Past climates and plant migration � the significance of the fossil record.
A commentary on Denk et al. (2023).

W.-q. Wang et al. (2023): Ecosystem responses of two Permian biocrises modulated by CO₂ emission rates. Abstract, Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 202.
"... we present a long-term uranium isotope (U) record using marine limestones covering the latest Early Permian through Middle to Late Permian. The U values show two episodes of low values in the middle Capitanian and late Changhsingian, indicating two periods of expansion of marine anoxia ..."

! The Paleobiology Database (originated in the NCEAS-funded Phanerozoic Marine Paleofaunal Database initiative).
This is a public database of paleontological data that anyone can use, maintained by an international non-governmental group of paleontologists. The Paleobiology Database has been supported by many grants over the years, mostly from the National Science Foundation. You may navigate from the
Paleobiology Database Guest Menu or check out the
Frequently Asked Questions. Please also note the detailed and excellent tutorial:
! M.D. Uhen et al. (2023): Paleobiology Database User Guide Version 1.0 Free access, PaleoBios, 40: 1-56. See also here (in PDF).

B. Erdei et al. (2009): The buried Miocene forest at Bükkábrány, Hungary. In PDF, Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology, 155: 69�79.
See also here.
Note plate 1: In situ upright stumps in the opencast mine at Bükkábrány.
"... fifteen �in situ� stumps standing at their original position ..."

J. Sakala (2004): The "Whole-Plant" concept in palaeobotany with examples from the Tertiary of northwestern Bohemia, Czech Republic with particular reference to fossil wood. PDF file (12.8 MB), Doctoral Thesis.
This expired link is still available through the Internet Archive´s Wayback Machine.
See also here. Further papers included:
Starting on PDF page 17: J. Sakala (2003): Podocarpoxylon helmstedtianum GOTTWALD from Kuklin (Late Eocene, Czech Republic) reinterpreted as Tetraclinoxylon vulcanense PRIVÉ Feddes Repertorium, 114: 25-29.
Starting on PDF page 25: J. Sakala and Catherine Privé-Gill(2004): Oligocene angiosperm woods from Northwestern Bohemia, Czech Republic. IAWA Journal, 25: 369-380.
Starting on PDF page 56: Z. Kvacek and J. Sakala (1999): Twig with attached leaves, fruits and seeds of Decodon (Lythraceae) from the Lower Miocene of northern Bohemia, and implications for the identification of detached leaves and seeds. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology, 107: 201-222.

Melanie DeVore, Department of Biological and Environmental Science, Georgia College and State University:
Plant Origin and Evolution. PowerPoint presentation (87.4 MB!).
This expired link is still available through the Internet Archive´s Wayback Machine.

P.K. Strother (2023): An evo-devo perspective on no Ordovician land plants. In PDF, Estonian Journal of Earth Sciences,
Note figure 1: Fossil record of microfossils related to land plant origins seen as character distributions.

! V. Vajda et al. (2023): The �seed-fern� Lepidopteris mass-produced the abnormal pollen Ricciisporites during the end-Triassic biotic crisis. Free access, Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 627.
Note figure 4: Microsporophyll Antevsia zeilleri and microsporangia (pollen sacs) with contained pollen linked to the Lepidopteris ottonis plant.
! Figure 10C: Reconstruction of branch of male plant with short shoots bearing Lepidopteris ottonis foliage and Antevsia zeilleri microsporophylls.
"... We show that R. tuberculatus is a large, abnormal form of the small smooth-walled monosulcate pollen traditionally associated with L. ottonis, which disappeared at the ETE [end-Triassic mass extinction], when volcanism induced cold-spells followed by global warming. We argue that the production of aberrant R. tuberculatus resulted from ecological pressure in stressed environments that favoured asexual reproduction in peltasperms ..."

M. D'Ario et al. (2023): Hidden functional complexity in the flora of an early land ecosystem. Free access, New Phytologist, doi: 10.1111/nph.19228.
"... Our approach highlights the impact of sporangia morphology on spore dispersal and adaptation
"... We discovered previously unidentified innovations among early land plants, discussing how different species might have opted for different spore dispersal strategies ..."

! S. Asche et al. (2023): What it takes to solve the Origin (s) of Life: An integrated review of techniques. Free access, arXiv.
! Note figure 1: Comprehensive array of experimental and computational techniques, along with conceptual bridges, which are primarily utilised in OoL studies.
"... We review the common tools and techniques that have been used significantly in OoL [origin(s) of life] studies in recent years.
[...] it spans broadly � from analytical chemistry to mathematical models � and highlights areas of future work ..."

! L. Lopez Cavalcante et al. (2023): Analysis of fossil plant cuticles using vibrational spectroscopy: A new preparation protocol. In PDF, Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology, 316.
See also here.
"... alarming changes were caused by the use of Schulze�s solution, which resulted in the addition of both NO₂ and (O)NO₂ compounds in the cuticle. Consequently, a new protocol using H₂CO₃, HF, and H₂O₂ for preparing fossil plant cuticles aimed for chemical analyses is proposed, which provides an effective substitute to the conventional methods ..."