Kristopher J. Purens, William A. DiMichele, Dan S. Chaney
{"title":"Two plant-fossil assemblages of early Permian age from north-central Texas and their comparison with other Permian deposits of the region","authors":"Kristopher J. Purens, William A. DiMichele, Dan S. Chaney","doi":"10.1016/j.revpalbo.2024.105238","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.revpalbo.2024.105238","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>North-Central Texas preserves an early Permian record of floristic change from the Asselian through the Kungurian. The regional floras that occur during that time interval vary compositionally in systematic ways and indicate major periods of environmental change. Here we describe two such floras from the late Artinskian, found in close geographic and stratigraphic proximity, the latter collection (1991) initially was thought to be from the same site as an earlier collection (1974), but proved to be from a different layer in the same area. The two floras, “Farmer's Tank” and “Cattle Tank” were analyzed quantitatively. They are composed of the same basic mixture of taxa but with strikingly different dominance-diversity profiles; Farmer's Tank is dominated by walchian conifers with subdominant marattialean tree ferns and gigantopterids, and Cattle Tank by marattialean tree ferns with subdominant noeggerathialeans and callipterids with conifers fourth in rank. These floras are from the early phases of a change in regional floras from heavily dominated by conifers and other xeromorphic, drought-tolerant elements, to “mixed” floras rich in, even dominated by marattialean tree ferns, but retaining a major component of drought-tolerant elements. These quantitative differences may reflect differences in the environment of deposition, but also possibly in season of the year - the Farmer's Tank collection is rich in seeds of considerable variety (13 morphotypes), whereas the Cattle Tank collection contains few seeds. These floristic features strongly suggest a landscape under seasonal climatic conditions with a period of moisture deficit.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":54488,"journal":{"name":"Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology","volume":"334 ","pages":"Article 105238"},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2024-11-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143157765","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"They were… …the grass on the housetops and blasted before it be grown up","authors":"Shahal Abbo , Simcha Lev-Yadun , Avi Gopher","doi":"10.1016/j.revpalbo.2024.105252","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.revpalbo.2024.105252","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Archaeobotanical finds of plant parts, especially of wild taxa that were domesticated and their derived domesticated forms, unearthed from archeological sites assume an important role in plant domestication research. Those finds are used in modelling plant domestication under the explicit or implicit assumptions that they represent past genetic, ecological, and cultural situations and dynamics and may illuminate the mechanisms that underly plant domestication. This ‘representability assumption’ is discussed herein by considering the potential contribution to the archaeobotanical finds of a source that was not investigated in depth in the past – that is, ‘housetop plants’. The match between the lists from four botanically surveyed ruins in Israel, taxa mentioned in the archaeobotanical literature, and lists of segetal taxa in recent traditional argo-ecologies in Israel, shows that flora of housetop and ruins of built complexes should be considered as an important origin of archaeobotanical finds identified in archaeological sites. These results are further considered on the backdrop of the suggested protracted model of plant domestication in the Levant focusing on pre-domestication cultivation and arguments concerning weeds of cultivation.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":54488,"journal":{"name":"Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology","volume":"334 ","pages":"Article 105252"},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2024-11-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143157918","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
C.A. Góis-Marques , F. Rumsey , J. Madeira , M. Menezes de Sequeira
{"title":"In situ volcanically baked killarney fern fossils (Hymenophyllaceae) from the late Holocene of the Azores archipelago (Portugal)","authors":"C.A. Góis-Marques , F. Rumsey , J. Madeira , M. Menezes de Sequeira","doi":"10.1016/j.revpalbo.2024.105254","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.revpalbo.2024.105254","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Among the most delicate native vascular plants present in the Azores archipelago (central Atlantic Ocean, Portugal) are the Hymenophyllaceae, known as the filmy ferns, due to their characteristic translucent one-cell thick lamina lacking stomata. Importantly, these characters impose a restriction to shaded and high humidity habitats, promoting rapid decay, leading to a low fossilization potential, as revealed by a worldwide scant macrofossil record of this family. Here we describe the first macrofossils of Hymenophyllaceae from Macaronesia, found on Faial Island, Azores archipelago. The fossils were preserved in situ within a 1000–1200 yr. BP vesicular ash-fall tuff overlain by an ignimbrite deposit. The specimens are three-dimensionally incorporated within the matrix, presenting overlapping, and are preserved as impressions with exceptional cuticular preservation. Morphological and anatomical characters match the sterile fronds of <em>Vandenboschia speciosa,</em> a native fern of the Azores Islands. Taphonomically, these fossils reveal that ash-fall released by sub-Plinian eruptions in oceanic islands can promote the burial and preservation of delicate plants, even when overlaid by hot pyroclastic density currents. Given the medieval age of the fossils, the associated autochthonous palaeoflora (Laurisilva), and their finding in a currently highly anthropically disturbed area, are especially important to reconstruct the palaeoecosystem baseline and inform possible future ecosystem restoration.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":54488,"journal":{"name":"Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology","volume":"334 ","pages":"Article 105254"},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2024-11-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143157764","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Thibault Durieux , Anne-Laure Decombeix , Carla J. Harper , Merlin Ramel , Chris Mays , Cyrille Prestianni
{"title":"Callixylon seamrogia sp. nov., a new species from the uppermost Famennian (Upper Devonian) of Ireland","authors":"Thibault Durieux , Anne-Laure Decombeix , Carla J. Harper , Merlin Ramel , Chris Mays , Cyrille Prestianni","doi":"10.1016/j.revpalbo.2024.105256","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.revpalbo.2024.105256","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The fossil record of the Devonian tree <em>Archaeopteris</em>/<em>Callixylon</em> is extensive worldwide, however, the underground parts of these plants remain scarcely known. To date, there are only three studies that provide detailed anatomical descriptions of their roots. This study describes new anatomically preserved roots and stems of <em>Callixylon</em> from uppermost Famennian (Upper Devonian) deposits of Sandeel Bay, County Wexford, Ireland. The wood is characterized by tracheids with the pitting pattern typical of <em>Callixylon</em> (i.e., radial pits forming groups separated by non-pitted areas), and the presence of numerous ray tracheids that are smaller than the parenchyma ray cells in tangential section and unevenly arranged inside the rays. The roots are characterized by a three-lobed actinostele with multiple exarch protoxylem strands, an unusual organization reported for the first time in <em>Callixylon</em> roots. The stems are eustelic, with a heterocellular pith composed of thin and some thick-walled cells. Based on their unique combination of characters, the specimens are assigned to a new species, <em>Callixylon seamrogia</em>, the first species of <em>Callixylon</em> reported from Ireland. Based on comparisons with previous architectural studies of <em>Callixylon,</em> the stems are hypothesized to correspond to main axes of the new species, one of them bearing an apically emitted non-persistent branch. These new specimens from Ireland provide new information on the rooting system of <em>Archaeopteris/Callixylon</em> and improve our understanding of the anatomical and systematic diversity within the genus.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":54488,"journal":{"name":"Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology","volume":"334 ","pages":"Article 105256"},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2024-11-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143157809","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Late Holocene palsa formation in northern Fennoscandia: Fossil pollen indication and climatic trigger","authors":"Vlasta Jankovská , Milena Kociánová , Lydie Dudová","doi":"10.1016/j.revpalbo.2024.105253","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.revpalbo.2024.105253","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Palsa is a peat mound with a permanently frozen core, occurring in the (sub)polar zone. So far, the history of European palsa mires has been investigated mainly by means of analysis of plant macroremains. To better understand how the formation of palsa is reflected in pollen records, we investigated fossil pollen of two sites in northern Fennoscandia: a conical palsa close to Abisko National Park (NW Sweden) and low palsa mire close to Nikel, Kola Peninsula (NW Russia).</div><div>At both sites, the formation of palsa is demonstrated by the same pattern in pollen record: decrease of Cyperaceae pollen and Pteridophyta and Lycopodiophyta spores, and the associated increase of ericoid dwarf shrubs and <em>Rubus chamaemorus</em> pollen. This pattern represents the change from a wet fen to a dry bog plant community after the uplift of the palsa mound above the surrounding terrain.</div><div>The age of both palsas formation around 2370 cal BP (Abisko) and 2270 cal BP (Nikel) falls in the two main periods of palsa initiation in Europe and thus represents further evidence of significant cooling in the period 2600–2100 cal BP. At both investigated sites, this cooling is also reflected by the decline of pine and the expansion of birch tundra.</div><div>Besides new original data, we provide an overview of so-far dated palsa formation in northern Fennoscandia and an interpretative key for identifying palsa in the palaeoecological record, based on plant species typical of the different stages of palsa development.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":54488,"journal":{"name":"Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology","volume":"334 ","pages":"Article 105253"},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2024-11-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143157762","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Intraspecific pollen morphological variations and their importance to characterize species boundaries: A review.","authors":"Gamal E.B. El Ghazali","doi":"10.1016/j.revpalbo.2024.105248","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.revpalbo.2024.105248","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Intraspecific structural variations in pollen grains are widespread in angiosperms. The aims of the present review are to track down intraspecific variability in various pollen morphological features, and to evaluate their taxonomic significance in defining species boundaries. Shape of pollen grains, sculptures, aperture types and numbers, muri textures, presence/absence of opercula, folded ectexines and pollen corpus (in bisaccate pollen grains) were encountered to exhibit intraspecific variations in the various taxa examined. These structural characteristics were recognized to be associated with variations of evolutionary effects, in the spatial arrangements and structural diversity of the styles (heterostyly, enantiostyly, stigma-height dimorphism, inverostyly), anthers (heteranthery), stigma textures, and the reproductive (breeding) systems (androdioecy, dioecy, andromonoecy) of the flowers. Other internal (polyploidy) and external factors (environmental) linked with structural intraspecific pollen variations were also considered. In order to characterize intraspecific boundaries and to test the credibility of these characters, various statistical tools were surveyed to identify characters of diagnostic taxonomic values.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":54488,"journal":{"name":"Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology","volume":"333 ","pages":"Article 105248"},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2024-11-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142721915","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Sanchita Kumar , Steven R. Manchester , Mahasin Ali Khan
{"title":"Oldest menispermaceous endocarp fossil from the Deccan Intertrappean Beds of Central India and its biogeographic implications","authors":"Sanchita Kumar , Steven R. Manchester , Mahasin Ali Khan","doi":"10.1016/j.revpalbo.2024.105249","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.revpalbo.2024.105249","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div><em>Palaeosinomenium</em> Chandler, a fossil genus of the Menispermaceae, has a characteristic endocarp morphology that is easily identified in the fossil floras. <em>Palaeosinomenium</em> was widely distributed in the Paleogene, based on reports from North America, Europe, and East Asia, but was not known from South Asia. Here, we recognize a new fossil-species, <em>Palaeosinomenium indicum</em> sp. nov., based on an endocarp mold and locule cast from the latest Maastrichtian (late Cretaceous)-earliest Danian (early Paleocene) sediments (c. 66–65 Ma old) of the Deccan Intertrappean beds of the Umariya site in Madhya Pradesh, Central India. This new species is characterized by a horseshoe-shaped endocarp with a broad-rounded dorsal margin, almost equal limbs, and a nearly straight ventral margin. It has one dorsal ridge, shallowly concave lateral faces, and a pair of c-shaped lateral ridges one on each side of the plane of bisymmetry, and about 19 radially aligned dorsal ribs. This new finding is the earliest fossil fruit evidence of Menispermaceae indicating an early occurrence of the family in Gondwana.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":54488,"journal":{"name":"Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology","volume":"334 ","pages":"Article 105249"},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2024-11-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143157763","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Giuseppa Forte , Roberta Branz , Nereo Preto , Evelyn Kustatscher
{"title":"Morphology, epidermal features and δ13C signature of Lopingian (late Permian) conifers","authors":"Giuseppa Forte , Roberta Branz , Nereo Preto , Evelyn Kustatscher","doi":"10.1016/j.revpalbo.2024.105239","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.revpalbo.2024.105239","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Conifers, the most successful group of Permian gymnosperms, dominate the famous Bletterbach (Dolomites, NE-Italy) plant fossil assemblage, a highly diverse and well-documented late Permian (Lopingian) flora. An integrated analysis of morphology, cuticles and isotope geochemistry was carried out on approximately 50 conifer shoots across five genera (<em>Ortiseia</em>, <em>Majonica, Dolomitia</em>, <em>Pseudovoltzia</em> and <em>Quadrocladus</em>) and eight species, including three (<em>Pseudovoltzia sjerpii</em>, <em>Quadrocladus solmsii</em>, <em>Quadrocladus</em> cf. <em>orobiformis</em>) described for the first time from Bletterbach. Taxon-specific carbon isotope analyses reveal intra-specific and/or intra-generic variability, identifying a unique geochemical composition for <em>Majonica alpina</em>, which may reflect a possible species-specific geochemical signature or adaptation to particular environmental conditions. The isotopic differences observed between leaves and axes indicate the preservation of distinct isotopic ratios in photosynthetic versus heterotrophic tissues, underscoring the importance of sampling multiple plant parts to accurately capture individual and taxonomic isotopic variability. The study of stable isotopes of organic carbon on well-preserved plant remains is enhanced the paleoenvironmental reconstruction of the Bletterbach flora.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":54488,"journal":{"name":"Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology","volume":"333 ","pages":"Article 105239"},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2024-11-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142721914","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Colin J. Courtney Mustaphi , Sandra O. Camara-Brugger , Anneli Ekblom , Linus Munishi , Rebecca Kariuki , Anna Shoemaker , Paul Lane , Rob Marchant
{"title":"Multiporate Poaceae pollen grains observed in the recent fossil record from the Greater Serengeti Ecosystem and Lake Victoria region","authors":"Colin J. Courtney Mustaphi , Sandra O. Camara-Brugger , Anneli Ekblom , Linus Munishi , Rebecca Kariuki , Anna Shoemaker , Paul Lane , Rob Marchant","doi":"10.1016/j.revpalbo.2024.105240","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.revpalbo.2024.105240","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The analysis of fossil pollen from sediments is used to understand past vegetation and land cover variability. The observations of multiporate Poaceae pollen from sediments have received little attention in the literature and causes and rates of occurrence have few estimates, and the rates observed in the sediments are much lower than estimates observed from modern plants in Asia. Pollen analysis of the uppermost sediments from Speke Gulf, Lake Victoria, eastern Africa, showed relative abundances of Poaceae between 65 and 75% during the past centuries. A total of 19 of the ∼<!--> <!-->11,000 Poaceae pollen grains observed had conspicuous morphological variations and were documented. More consistent presence of abnormal grains occurred since the mid twentieth century, at the same time of increased anthropogenic environmental stressors. Multiporate pollen grains of Poaceae have been previously observed in Asia, South America, and northern Africa, predominantly in the Panicoideae subfamily. Morphological variations may present an added challenge for automated pollen identification techniques and descriptions of fossil pollen.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":54488,"journal":{"name":"Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology","volume":"333 ","pages":"Article 105240"},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2024-11-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142697761","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
A.-M. Lézine , B. Turcq , T. Desjardins , M. Mandeng-Yogo , F. Cetin , B. Tchiengué , G. Achoundong
{"title":"Impact of the Younger Dryas dry event on equatorial forest ecosystems: Insight from Lake Child, Manengouba crater, Cameroon","authors":"A.-M. Lézine , B. Turcq , T. Desjardins , M. Mandeng-Yogo , F. Cetin , B. Tchiengué , G. Achoundong","doi":"10.1016/j.revpalbo.2024.105237","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.revpalbo.2024.105237","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This paper presents the pollen, microcharcoal and geochemical data generated by a sediment core extracted from Lake Child in the Manengouba massif of Cameroon (MAN-01: 5.02996 N, 9.822910E; 1948 m asl) covering the time interval between 15.4 and 9.6 ka. With an exceptional sedimentation rate of up to 13 cm per year, this record represents the highest resolution of the environmental changes that took place in the highlands of equatorial Atlantic Africa during the last deglaciation. Our study shows (1) that the Younger Dryas (YD) dry event consisted of two distinct phases: a dry phase between 12.8 and 11.7 ka followed by a wetter and colder phase between 11.7 and 11.3 ka; (2) that the Afromontane forest elements that were present during the last glacial period were replaced by sub-montane forest elements during the Holocene; (3) that vegetation and the hydrological environment have not always evolved in parallel: this was particularly the case at the YD/Holocene transition when the abrupt shift in hydrological conditions contrasted with the gradual spread of forests.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":54488,"journal":{"name":"Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology","volume":"332 ","pages":"Article 105237"},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2024-11-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142656074","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}