The Vegetation of Antarctica through Geological Time

Abstract

The fossil history of plant life in Antarctica is central to our understanding of the evolution of vegetation through geological time and also plays a key role in reconstructing past configurations of the continents and associated climatic conditions. This book provides the only detailed overview of the development of Antarctic vegetation from the Devonian period to the present day, presenting Earth scientists with valuable insights into the break up of the ancient supercontinent of Gondwana. Details of specific floras and ecosystems are provided within the context of changing geological, geographical and environmental conditions, alongside comparisons with contemporaneous and modern ecosystems. The authors demonstrate how palaeobotany contributes to our understanding of the palaeoenvironmental changes in the southern hemisphere during this period of Earth history. The book is a complete and up-to-date reference for researchers and students in Antarctic palaeobotany and terrestrial palaeoecology.

Fossil clitellate annelid cocoons and their microbiological inclusions from the Eocene of Seymour Island, Antarctica

“…Terrestrial ecosystems of Antarctica saw marked extinctions and decline in diversity from the middle Eocene onwards (Reguero et al, 2013), and were especially decimated by dramatic cooling at the end of the Eocene (Berggren and Prothero, 1992;Cantrill and Poole, 2012). The local lineages of Clitellata that produced the range of cocoons described here may have been casualties of that dramatic climatic transition, since the group is not represented in the modern Antarctic fauna.…”

Highly productive polar forests from the Permian of Antarctica

“…Glossopterid leaf fossils are extremely abundant in Antarctic Permian deposits, indicating that this plant dominated the ecosystem (Francis, 1993;Cúneo et al, 1993;Cantrill and Poole, 2012). That the Lamping Peak forests were composed of trees bearing Glossopteris leaves is backed by composition of fossil plant material in the Buckley Formation in the Beardmore area within 100 km of Lamping Peak, including some that is exquisitely preserved in permineralization peat, as well as by plant fossils at Lamping Peak.…”

“…21 above ground shape of Glossopteris and its branching patterns, branch length, and other characteristics (see Cantrill and Poole, 2012, and references therein), and by the absence of a closely related modern tree. However, in the absence both of a close relative and of morphological details about the Glossopteris trees, the two approaches used to estimate biomass (see section 3.2) broadly constrain the biomass of the Lamping Peak forests.…”

Eocene relatives of cod icefishes (Perciformes: Notothenioidei) from Seymour Island, Antarctica

“…(Telm7) are rec og nized in the La Meseta For ma tion. In the for ma tion a grad ual de te ri o ra tion of cli mate is re corded, with the ev i dence of de creas ing tem per atures through the later Eocene cul mi nat ing with the first Antarc tic glaciations at the Eocene-Oligocene bound ary (GaŸdzi -cki et al, 1992;Din gle et al, 1998;Birkenmajer et al, 2005;Ivany et al, 2006Ivany et al, , 2008Tatur et al, 2006;Fran cis et al, 2009; see also Cantrill and Poole, 2012). Most pos si bly, the or i gin of the notothenioids is linked to this cli ma tic event, as was hypoth e sized al ready by Regan (1914) and men tioned by Grande and East man (1986: p. 134).…”