Comparative Ecology and Life-History Biology of Arborescent Lycopsids in Late Carboniferous Swamps of Euramerica

Phillips, Tom; DiMichele, William A.

doi:10.2307/2399753

Cited by 206 publications

(174 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…9A, right). With rare exceptions, these plants were confined to soils with high moisture content and, most likely, standing water throughout much of the year (DiMichele and Phillips 1985), a role for which they had numerous morphological adaptations (Phillips and DiMichele 1992) and specialized physiologies (Green 2010). In peat-forming environments, most lycopsid trees were abundant to dominant in the wetter parts of swamps with periodic standing water, so-called rheotrophic swamps, but others may have been centered in DIMICHELE-DYNAMICS OF COAL AGE TROPICAL VEGETATION 135 highly nutrient-depleted, highly oligotrophic parts of raised or ombrotrophic swamps.…”

Section: Wetland Floral Compositionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Nearly every seasonally dry flora also includes a few stereotypically wetland taxa, particularly calamitaleans and tree ferns, both of which persist well into the Permian. These are sometimes accompanied by the aborescent lycopsid Sigillaria, a plant that may have had various kinds of morphological and reproductive features permitting tolerance of drier conditions than other arborescent lycopsids (Phillips and DiMichele 1992;Pfefferkorn and Wang 2009), and by pteridosperms in older, cordaitalean-rich assemblages possibly with somewhat longer wet periods than those dominated by or enriched in conifers.…”

Section: Dryland Floral Compositionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Wetland-Dryland Vegetational Dynamics in the Pennsylvanian Ice Age Tropics

DiMichele¹

2014

International Journal of Plant Sciences

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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: Dryland Floral Compositionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Wetland-Dryland Vegetational Dynamics in the Pennsylvanian Ice Age Tropics

DiMichele¹

2014

International Journal of Plant Sciences

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161

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“…These lowstand interfiuve successions, interpreted as being deposited during glacial phases, are dominated by the pollen of conifers, cordaites, and pteridosperms, a typical dryland flora. They also, however, contain a few spores of Lycospora pusilla (the spore of Lepidodendron hickii) and Lycospora pellucida (= Lepidophloios harcourtii) (Dolby, 1988), both key coal-forest taxa seen in much greater abundance in bracketing coal beds (Phillips and DiMichele, 1992). Although much reduced in numbers, these data imply that coalforest taxa were still present in the equatorial belt during glacial phases.…”

Section: Coal-forest Refugiamentioning

confidence: 99%

What Happened to the Coal Forests During Pennsylvanian Glacial Phases?

Falcon-Lang

DiMichele

2010

PALAIOS

102

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Sequence stratigraphic analysis of Pennsylvanian coal-bearing strata suggests that glacial-interglacial fluctuations at high latitudes drove cyclic changes in tropical biomes. A literature review of plant assemblages in this paleoclimatic context suggests that coal forests dominated during humid interglacial phases, but were replaced by seasonally dry vegetation during glacial phases. After each glacial event, coal forests reassembled with largely the same species composition. This remarkable stasis implies that coal-forest refugia existed across the equatorial landscape during glacial phases, expanding to repopulate lowlands during and following deglaciation. One possibility is that refugia comprised small pockets of wetland forest strung out along valleys at some sites, but data are currently insufficient to test this hypothesis. The model presented here, if accepted, dramatically alters our understanding of the coal forests and helps explain aspects of their dynamics.

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“…The following genera have been separated from Lepidodendron in recent decades (see reviews by DiMichele 1980;Bateman and DiMichele 1991;Bateman et al 1992;and Phillips and DiMichele 1992): Anabathra /Paralycopodites, Diaphorodendron, Synchysidendron, and Hizemodendron.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Lycopsida from the lower Westphalian (Middle Pennsylvanian) of the Maritime Provinces, Canada

Álvarez-Vázquez

Wagner²

2014

atgeol

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A taxonomic revision of lycopsids is presented as part of a reassesment of lower to middle Westphalian adpression floras from the Maritime Provinces of Canada. Being elements of the swamp flora their record reflects sedimentary bias. Systematic collecting from the “Fern Ledges” at Saint John (New Brunswick) has yielded only a few lycopsid remains as a result of the allochthonous facies. Most records (mainly by W.A. Bell in the twentieth century) correspond to sporadic collecting by Geological Survey of Canada (GSC) personnel. Their specimens are kept in GSC Ottawa. Additional remains are in museums at Montréal (Quebec), Joggins (Nova Scotia) and Saint John (New Brunswick). We introduce a new species (Lepidodendron bellii), and reinstate another (Diaphorodendron decurtatum) described by Dawson in the 19th century. Altogether, 26 taxa are described, including stem and branch remains as well as roots, leaves, strobili and sporophylls. Three specimens are illustrated from localities outside Canada so as to clarify specific characters. A copy of Lindley and Hutton’s illustration of the type of Lepidodendron dilatatum (here recorded as Bergeria dilatata) is figured in the context of a redefinition of the genus Bergeria for stem remains with false leaf scars. Problems surrounding the morphological interpretation of arborescent lycopsids of Pennsylvanian age are discussed, and the stratigraphic and paleogeographic distribution are recorded for the different taxa. The identity of the Pennsylvanian flora of the Canadian Maritimes with that of the British Isles and western Europe in general is emphasized by the synonymies discussed. Paleogeographic proximity and a similar paleolatitude justify the identity of floras.

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Comparative Ecology and Life-History Biology of Arborescent Lycopsids in Late Carboniferous Swamps of Euramerica

Cited by 206 publications

References 19 publications

Wetland-Dryland Vegetational Dynamics in the Pennsylvanian Ice Age Tropics

Wetland-Dryland Vegetational Dynamics in the Pennsylvanian Ice Age Tropics

What Happened to the Coal Forests During Pennsylvanian Glacial Phases?

Lycopsida from the lower Westphalian (Middle Pennsylvanian) of the Maritime Provinces, Canada

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