The first forests

• Main Authors: Willis, K. J., McElwain, J. C.
• Format: Book Part
• Language: unknown
• Published: Oxford University Press 2013
• Subjects: Arctic
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/hesc/9780199292233.003.0004

This chapter examines the evidence for environmental and evolutionary changes and discusses the possible evolutionary pathways from the earliest vascular plants to trees. It reviews the biogeographical distribution of the first multi-storied forests and the factors influencing their distribution. It also describes the global vegetation that evolved from one dominated by small, weedy plants, most less than 1 metre in height, to fully forested ecosystems with trees towering up to 35 metres during the period spanning the early Devonian to late Carboniferous. The chapter discusses biogeographic reconstruction that indicates that provinciality of the global vegetation increased markedly through the Carboniferous. It highlights biomes, including tropical everwet, tropical summerwet, subtropical desert, warm temperate, cool to cold temperate, and arctic and glacial.