A review of permineralized Euramerican Carboniferous tree ferns

Millay, Michael A.

doi:10.1016/s0034-6667(96)00034-6

Cited by 59 publications

(41 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…The Marattiales are a group that is still extant today and of primarily tropical distribution. In this diverse group (Lesnikowska 1989;Millay 1997;Liu et al 2000;He et al 2013), the stems (Psaronius, Caulopteris, Megaphyton) were supported by a mantle of adventitious roots (Ehret and Phillips 1977). The root mantle hosted a large array of climbing and epiphytic plants (Rö ßler 2000), making Psaronius an important ecosystem engineer.…”

Section: Wetland Floral Compositionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The near disappearance of these plants at the Middle-Late Pennsylvanian boundary thus may reflect a particularly severe period or series of sequential intervals of intense fragmentation of their populations (Phillips and Peppers 1984;Heckel 1991a). Tree ferns similarly may have been considerably insulated from founder effects during periods of population contraction due to both their prolific production of small isospores and the subsequent high dispensability of these spores (Lesnikowska 1989;Millay 1997). At the other end of the spectrum were the medullosan pteridosperms.…”

Section: Ecological and Evolutionary Implicationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Wetland-Dryland Vegetational Dynamics in the Pennsylvanian Ice Age Tropics

DiMichele¹

2014

International Journal of Plant Sciences

161

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Premise of research. The Late Paleozoic Ice Age was the last extensive pre-Pleistocene ice age. It includes many climate changes of different intensities, permitting examination of many and varied biotic responses. The tropical Pennsylvanian Subperiod, usually visualized as one vast wetland coal forest, in fact also was dominated, periodically, by seasonally dry vegetation that, in turn, covered most of the central and western Pangean supercontinent. Equatorial wetland and dryland biomes oscillated during single glacial-interglacial cycles. This recognition changes understanding of the Coal Age tropics; examination of their spatiotemporal patterns indicates that these vegetation types responded differently to global environmental disturbances and long-term trends and points to potentially different underlying controls on evolutionary histories of their component lineages.Methodology. This study is based on the published literature and on examination of geological exposures and fossil floras, mainly from North America but also from other parts of the world.Pivotal results. Wetlands and seasonally dry habitats were equally part of the Coal Age Pangean tropics. They dominated these landscapes at different times, under different climatic regimes. Wetland vegetation was likely forced into refugia during seasonally dry (subhumid to semiarid) parts of glacial-interglacial cycles; it reemerged/reassembled during wet (humid to perhumid) periods. Seasonally dry vegetation resided permanently in areas of western and central Pangea and in microhabitats within the Central Pangean Mountains. Both floras had lower biodiversity than modern floras in similar habitats. The wetland flora species pool was more phylogenetically disparate than any modern vegetation. In contrast, seasonally dry floras were dominated by seed plants. These biomes responded differently to acute environmental changes and chronic long-term aridification.Conclusions. From ecological or evolutionary perspectives, the present-day world is but one possibility. Lower-diversity worlds such as the late Paleozoic, with a rich spectrum of environmental variations, offer insights into relationships between organisms and environments that expand understanding of these phenomena and enlarge our sense of what is possible or probable as we look to the future.

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Section: Wetland Floral Compositionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Ecological and Evolutionary Implicationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Wetland-Dryland Vegetational Dynamics in the Pennsylvanian Ice Age Tropics

DiMichele¹

2014

International Journal of Plant Sciences

161

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“…Xeromorphy is visible in distantly related groups such as the arborescent lycopsids, cordaitalean gymnosperms, medullosan seed ferns, and sphenopsids. Even the large fronds of some marattialean tree ferns had strongly revolute pinnules with abundant abaxial trichomes and rachial scales (e.g., Millay, 1997), which could be interpreted as xeromorphic features.…”

Section: Additional Considerationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Palaeoecology of Macroneuropteris scheuchzeri, and its implications for resolving the paradox of ‘xeromorphic’ plants in Pennsylvanian wetlands

Stull

DiMichele

Falcon-Lang

et al. 2012

Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology

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“…A major change occurs in the upper Westphalian to lowermost Stephanian with a marked increase in abundance and diversity of all marattialean remains (Millay 1997;DiMichele & Phillips 2002;Cleal et al 2010Cleal et al , 2011. Amongst the adpressions, foliage is attributable to several fossil-genera, including Acitheca Schimper, 1879 (the 'Pecopteris polymorpha group'), Cyathocarpus Weiss, 1869 (the 'Pecopteris arborescens6 cyathea group'), Ptychocarpus Weiss, 1869 (the 'Pecopteris unita group') and a group of species often referred to the genus Lobatopteris Wagner, 1959.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%