Leaf habit of Late Permian Glossopteris trees from high-palaeolatitude forests

The leaf longevity of trees, deciduous or evergreen, plays an important role in climate feedbacks and plant ecology. In modern forests of the high latitudes, evergreen trees dominate; however, the fossil record indicates that deciduous vegetation dominated during some previous warm intervals. We sho...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Erik L. Gulbranson, Patricia E. Ryberg, Anne-Laure Decombeix, Edith L. Taylor, Thomas N. Taylor, John L. Isbell
Format: Dataset
Language:unknown
Published: 2016
Subjects:
Geology
arborescent glossopterid taxa
Permian Glossopteris trees
deciduou
latitude
evergreen trees
Glossopteris
Antarc*
Antarctica
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3453713.v1
https://figshare.com/articles/Leaf_habit_of_Late_Permian_em_Glossopteris_em_trees_from_high-palaeolatitude_forests/3453713
Description
Summary:The leaf longevity of trees, deciduous or evergreen, plays an important role in climate feedbacks and plant ecology. In modern forests of the high latitudes, evergreen trees dominate; however, the fossil record indicates that deciduous vegetation dominated during some previous warm intervals. We show, through an integration of palaeobotanical techniques and isotope geochemistry of trees in one of the earliest polar forests (Late Permian, c . 260 Ma, Antarctica), that the arborescent glossopterid taxa were both deciduous and evergreen, with a greater abundance of evergreen trees occurring in the studied forests. These new findings suggest the possibility that deciduousness was a plastic trait in ancient polar plants, and that deciduous plants, migrating poleward from lower latitudes, were probably better adapted to high-disturbance areas in environments that were light-limited.

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