The Coexistence Approach—Theoretical background and practical considerations of using plant fossils for climate quantification

Utescher, Torsten; Bruch, Angela A; Erdei, Boglárka; François, Louis; Ivanov, Dimiter; Jacques, Frédéric M.B.; Kern, Andrea; Liu, Yusheng; Mosbrugger, Volker; Spicer, Robert A.

doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2014.05.031

Cited by 247 publications

(265 citation statements)

References 110 publications

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“…This inconsistency, combined with the significant diversityproductivity relationship found here, could suggest that primary productivity is a more important or more direct driver of terrestrial mammalian diversity than temperature (3), although we do not directly compare temperature and productivity effects. In addition, the plant records in our study recovered regional variation in terrestrial NPP that could not be captured by the single global temperature curve from marine isotope data used in previous work, even though the terrestrial records have patchy spatial coverage and lower temporal resolution (18).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 74%

“…Paleo-climatic data were obtained from several public sources that covered the Neogene as a whole (18), exclusively the Miocene (45), or exclusively the Pliocene (46,47). We used terrestrial estimates of mean annual temperature (MAT) and precipitation (MAP) inferred from fossil plant communities which allowed us to calculate spatially explicit values of terrestrial NPP for each region or continent.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Our methods assume no effects of temporal changes in atmospheric CO 2 levels on paleo-climatic estimation from plant fossils or on conversion of paleoclimatic values to NPP estimates, because past CO 2 levels are still under debate, and recent vegetation models suggest that they are likely comparable to preindustrial levels since at least the late Miocene (50). Additionally, the influence of CO 2 fertilization on paleo-climatic reconstruction is considered negligible, particularly in areas where water is not the main limiting factor (18). For each stratigraphic stage and each region and continent, we calculated weighted mean NPP based on all grid cells with both a MAT and a MAP estimate (excluding stages with only one cell).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…To evaluate the mammalian diversity-productivity relationship through the Neogene, we combine Northern hemisphere mammalian fossil data for stratigraphic stages covering the Miocene and Pliocene epochs ∼23-1.8 Mya (Table S1) with regional terrestrial NPP estimates derived from fossil plant communities (18), covering 23-2.6 Mya in Europe and 17-2.6 Mya in North America (Fig. 1).…”

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confidence: 99%

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Twenty-million-year relationship between mammalian diversity and primary productivity

Fritz

Eronen

Schnitzler

et al. 2016

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

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At global and regional scales, primary productivity strongly correlates with richness patterns of extant animals across space, suggesting that resource availability and climatic conditions drive patterns of diversity. However, the existence and consistency of such diversityproductivity relationships through geological history is unclear. Here we provide a comprehensive quantitative test of the diversityproductivity relationship for terrestrial large mammals through time across broad temporal and spatial scales. We combine >14,000 occurrences for 690 fossil genera through the Neogene (23-1.8 Mya) with regional estimates of primary productivity from fossil plant communities in North America and Europe. We show a significant positive diversity-productivity relationship through the 20-millionyear record, providing evidence on unprecedented spatial and temporal scales that this relationship is a general pattern in the ecology and paleo-ecology of our planet. Further, we discover that genus richness today does not match the fossil relationship, suggesting that a combination of human impacts and Pleistocene climate variability has modified the 20-million-year ecological relationship by strongly reducing primary productivity and driving many mammalian species into decline or to extinction. macroecology | paleontology | mammals | net primary production

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 74%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Twenty-million-year relationship between mammalian diversity and primary productivity

Fritz

Eronen

Schnitzler

et al. 2016

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

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“…Based on the com par i son of the Edmundipollis species with the pol len of liv ing gen era from the Araliaceae and Mastixiaceae fam i lies, a re la tion ship was con structed us ing the co ex is tence ap proach (Mosbrugger and Utescher, 1997;Utescher et al, 2014).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pollen morphotype edmundi and its significance for palaeoclimate reconstructions of the Neogene

Słodkowska

Ziembinska-Tworzydlo

2017

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2 Uni ver sity of War saw, Fac ulty of Ge ol ogy, ¯wirki i Wigury 93, 02-089 Warszawa, Po land S³odkowska, B., Ziembiñska-Tworzyd³o, M., 2017. Pol len morphotype edmundi and its sig nif i cance for palaeoclimate re construc tions of the Neo gene. Geo log i cal Quar terly, 61 (2): 267-275, doi: 10.7306/gq.1344Pol len anal y sis has re vealed the pres ence of the edmundi morphotype in the Paleogene and Neo gene sed i ments of Cen tral Eu rope. Its spe cies, char ac ter ized by dif fer ent morphologies, are mainly as signed to two fam i lies of ex tant plants -the Araliaceae and the Mastixiaceae -and com pared to pol len of some gen era (Diplopanax and Mastixia from the Mastixiaceae, and Aralia, Fatsia and Schefflera from the Araliaceae). The most sig nif i cant ge nus for palaeoclimate re con struc tions is the ex tant Diplopanax, whose seeds, sim i larly as the seeds of other rep re sen ta tives of the Mastixiaceae, ap pear in the warm phases of the Neo gene. The type spe cies of Edmundipollis (E. edmundi) has been com pared to Diplopanax pol len. Based on sim i lar i ties with ex tant plants, the CA (Co ex is tence Ap proach) was de ter mined. The re sults in di cate a very warm and hu mid sub trop i cal cli mate (Cfa-Cwa) ac cord ing to the Köppen clas si fi ca tion.

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PaleogeneFicusleaves from India and their implications for fig evolution and diversification

Chandra

Spicer

Shukla³

et al. 2023

American J of Botany

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Premise Ficus is a scientifically and economically important genus with abundant fossil records from the Paleocene to Pleistocene, but with an intriguing early evolutionary history that remains unresolved. Here, the foliage of three well‐preserved figs is described from the early Paleogene succession of the Gurha mine, Rajasthan, India. These fossils provide new morphological data that strengthens our understanding of the past occurrences of Ficus and, alongside all validly published records of fossil figs, helps to trace the evolutionary history of figs. Methods Fossils were identified and described by comparison with their closest modern analogs using the Nearest Living Relative (NLR) technique. Validated fig records are listed and categorized into six geological time frames. Modern precipitation data for the current distributions of NLRs were downloaded from the Climatic Research Unit Timeseries. Results Fossil leaves assigned to three new species Ficus paleodicranostyla, F. paleovariegata, and F. paleoauriculata closely resemble their modern analogs based on leaf morphology. Reliable fossil records were used to hypothesize historical fig distributions and paleodispersal pathways. Precipitation data suggest higher precipitations at the fossil locality during the early Paleogene than at present. Conclusions The fossils described herein supplement fig fossil records known from other regions indicating that figs were widely diverse across low latitudes by the early Paleogene. These data support a Eurasian origin for figs, highlight a pivotal role for the Indian subcontinent during the early phase of fig diversification, and depict a perhumid‐to‐humid climate with high rainfall concordant with paleoclimate evidence from the Gurha mine.

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The Coexistence Approach—Theoretical background and practical considerations of using plant fossils for climate quantification

Cited by 247 publications

References 110 publications

Twenty-million-year relationship between mammalian diversity and primary productivity

Twenty-million-year relationship between mammalian diversity and primary productivity

Pollen morphotype edmundi and its significance for palaeoclimate reconstructions of the Neogene

PaleogeneFicusleaves from India and their implications for fig evolution and diversification

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