High-resolution leaf-fossil record spanning the Cretaceous/Tertiary boundary

Johnson, Kirk R.; Nichols, Douglas J.; Attrep, Moses; Orth, C. J.

doi:10.1038/340708a0

Cited by 97 publications

(86 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…This interpretation of low temperature seasonality is corroborated by the abundance of crocodilian, champsosaur, and turtle remains in correlative strata (56). Fourth, our Paleocene floras overwhelmingly bear the imprint of ecological trauma, including the loss of all Cretaceous dominant species from all facies (11,19,23), diminishing richness after the K-P that is in accord with continuing taxonomic losses observed in the wake of other extinction events (57), and the nearly total disappearance of specialized types of insect feeding on leaves (15). The effects of bolide impact provide the most plausible explanation for these phenomena.…”

Section: Climate Changes Before K-p Extinctionmentioning

confidence: 95%

“…Previous estimates of K-P plant extinction in these strata range from 70 to 90% (11,19,23). Here, we apply recent improvements in the stratigraphic resolution, sample size, and known diversity of the North Dakota floras to produce highresolution paleoclimatic analyses.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…I n contrast to the well resolved marine record (1)(2)(3)(4)(5)(6), terrestrial climates near the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary (K-P), a time marked by bolide impact (7,8) and mass extinctions (9)(10)(11)(12)(13)(14)(15), remain poorly known. Paleobotanical reports have suggested long-term cooling across the K-P in Asia (16), no temperature change (10) or a major temperature increase soon after the boundary (17) in the Raton Basin of New Mexico and Colorado, and latest Cretaceous warming followed by a cooler Paleocene in North Dakota (18).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The K-P is recognized in the area by an iridium anomaly, shocked minerals, and a spherule layer, all thought to be products of the Chicxulub impact (11,19,30). These features are associated locally with extinctions of vertebrates, including dinosaurs (13,31), as well as insects (15), palynomorphs (11,30,31), and plant macrofossil species (11,19,23).…”

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confidence: 99%

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Correlated terrestrial and marine evidence for global climate changes before mass extinction at the Cretaceous–Paleogene boundary

Wilf

Johnson

Huber

2003

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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222

187

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Terrestrial climates near the time of the end-Cretaceous mass extinction are poorly known, limiting understanding of environmentally driven changes in biodiversity that occurred before bolide impact. We estimate paleotemperatures for the last Ϸ1.1 million years of the Cretaceous (Ϸ66.6 -65.5 million years ago, Ma) by using fossil plants from North Dakota and employ paleomagnetic stratigraphy to correlate the results to foraminiferal paleoclimatic data from four middle-and high-latitude sites. Both plants and foraminifera indicate warming near 66.0 Ma, a warming peak from Ϸ65.8 to 65.6 Ma, and cooling near 65.6 Ma, suggesting that these were global climate shifts. The warming peak coincides with the immigration of a thermophilic flora, maximum plant diversity, and the poleward range expansion of thermophilic foraminifera. Plant data indicate the continuation of relatively cool temperatures across the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary; there is no indication of a major warming immediately after the boundary as previously reported. Our temperature proxies correspond well with recent pCO2 data from paleosol carbonate, suggesting a coupling of pCO2 and temperature. To the extent that biodiversity is correlated with temperature, estimates of the severity of end-Cretaceous extinctions that are based on occurrence data from the warming peak are probably inflated, as we illustrate for North Dakota plants. However, our analysis of climate and facies considerations shows that the effects of bolide impact should be regarded as the most significant contributor to these plant extinctions.

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Section: Climate Changes Before K-p Extinctionmentioning

confidence: 95%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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confidence: 99%

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Correlated terrestrial and marine evidence for global climate changes before mass extinction at the Cretaceous–Paleogene boundary

Wilf

Johnson

Huber

2003

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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222

187

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“…This event has been linked to the impact of an extraterrestrial object (3) on the Yucatán Peninsula of Mexico (4) that resulted in the losses of numerous lineages within such disparate animal groups as pelagic vertebrates, dinosaurs, mammals, foraminifera, and marine and freshwater mollusks (5-11). Paleobotanical evidence indicates a drastic decline of seed plants in the Western Interior of North America, seen in both the megafloral and palynofloral records (11)(12)(13)(14)(15)(16)(17).Several quantitative studies at the family level indicate that the diversity of insects suffered no decrease beyond normal levels of background extinction at the K͞T boundary (18)(19)(20). The extinction resistance of insect families is probably attributable to the high diversity of their constituent species and the spatiotemporal plasticity of their geographic ranges, resulting in exceptional longevity in the fossil record (19,21).…”

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confidence: 99%

Impact of the terminal Cretaceous event on plant–insect associations

Labandeira

Johnson

Wilf

2002

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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264

216

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Evidence for a major extinction of insect herbivores is provided by presence-absence data for 51 plant-insect associations on 13,441 fossil plant specimens, spanning the Cretaceous͞Paleogene boundary in southwestern North Dakota. The most specialized associations, which were diverse and abundant during the latest Cretaceous, almost disappeared at the boundary and failed to recover in younger strata even while generalized associations regained their Cretaceous abundances. These results are consistent with a sudden ecological perturbation that precipitated a diversity bottleneck for insects and plants.O ne of the most scrutinized events in the history of life is the Cretaceous-Paleogene (K͞T) mass extinction at 65.51 Ϯ 0.3 million years before present (1, 2). This event has been linked to the impact of an extraterrestrial object (3) on the Yucatán Peninsula of Mexico (4) that resulted in the losses of numerous lineages within such disparate animal groups as pelagic vertebrates, dinosaurs, mammals, foraminifera, and marine and freshwater mollusks (5-11). Paleobotanical evidence indicates a drastic decline of seed plants in the Western Interior of North America, seen in both the megafloral and palynofloral records (11)(12)(13)(14)(15)(16)(17).Several quantitative studies at the family level indicate that the diversity of insects suffered no decrease beyond normal levels of background extinction at the K͞T boundary (18)(19)(20). The extinction resistance of insect families is probably attributable to the high diversity of their constituent species and the spatiotemporal plasticity of their geographic ranges, resulting in exceptional longevity in the fossil record (19,21). Although few studies exist below the family level, the demise of Late Cretaceous aphidioid, beetle, and ant genera (20,22,23) provides some evidence for extinctions. Establishing a comprehensive test for the presence or absence of an insect extinction has been hindered by the worldwide lack of appropriate, local deposits that span the K͞T boundary and contain well-preserved, diverse, and sufficiently abundant insect faunas (24). The deposits that come closest to meeting these criteria are: Canadian amber of the upper Campanian Foremost Formation, occurring approximately 10 million years before the K͞T boundary (20); and the Fur Formation, a Danish unit that brackets the Paleocene to Eocene boundary and contains an assemblage of insect compression fossils from approximately 11 million years after the event (25). Even if more suitable deposits are found, taxonomic occurrence data are inherently limited for addressing the ecological aspects of extinction (26).Here, we use an explicitly ecological approach that takes advantage of insect-damaged fossil plants (ref. 27; Fig. 1), which document the trophic associations between plants and their insect herbivores, the latter estimated as approximately half of all extant insect species (28). This approach also allows us to investigate a possible insect extinction at the K͞T boundary by using a high sample siz...

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A workflow and protocol describing the field to digitization process for new project‐based fossil leaf collections

Contreras¹

2018

Appl Plant Sci

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Premise of the StudyThis article provides a workflow and protocol for paleobotanical researchers that integrates project‐based fossil leaf specimen and data collection with curation and digitization. The methods aim to facilitate efficient digitization of new collections by researchers during the course of their study and promote public databasing of new specimen and project data.Methods and ResultsThe workflow was developed and refined to facilitate a project reconstructing an extensive fossil forest from leaf impressions/compressions. The workflow consists of field, museum, and data mobilization components. Customizing a workspace and streamlining all steps of specimen data collection, curation, and digitization into an integrated processing pipeline resulted in faster accumulation of specimen data and images.ConclusionsThese protocols provide paleobotanists with logistics‐focused methods for integrating research with digitization, and are particularly applicable at institutions with limited collection support staff or when specimen images are needed for project purposes.

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High-resolution leaf-fossil record spanning the Cretaceous/Tertiary boundary

Cited by 97 publications

References 17 publications

Correlated terrestrial and marine evidence for global climate changes before mass extinction at the Cretaceous–Paleogene boundary

Correlated terrestrial and marine evidence for global climate changes before mass extinction at the Cretaceous–Paleogene boundary

Impact of the terminal Cretaceous event on plant–insect associations

A workflow and protocol describing the field to digitization process for new project‐based fossil leaf collections

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