New insights into the reading of Paleozoic plant fossil record discontinuities

Discontinuity; Multivariate analyses; Plant fossil record; Rock-record bias; Carboniferous; Devonian; Mississippian; Paleozoic; Pennsylvanian; Permian; Tracheophyta

Abstract :

[en] Studying the discontinuity patterns of Paleozoic vascular plants provides a global vision of these key events from the multivariate methods viewpoint. Non-metric multidimensional scaling, detrended correspondence analysis and cluster analysis have been employed together with a set of diversity and abundance measures and an evaluation of the geologic constraints from the plant fossil record data. The results reveal four clear significant discontinuities in terms of taxonomic composition and record representativeness during the early-middle Devonian, Devonian-Carboniferous, Mississippian-Pennsylvanian and early-late Permian. Due to the controversial character of the plant fossil record data and the effect of mass extinction events, the results can be explained in taxonomic turnover and ecological reorganisation terms which emphasise the crucial role of the geologic constrains in paleobiological inference. © 2011 Taylor & Francis.

Disciplines :

Phytobiology (plant sciences, forestry, mycology...)

Author, co-author :

Cascales - Miñana, Borja ; Department of Plant Biology, University of Valencia, Av Vicente Andres Estelles s/n, 46100 Burjassot, Valencia, Spain

Language :

English

Title :

New insights into the reading of Paleozoic plant fossil record discontinuities

Publication date :

2011

Journal title :

Historical Biology

ISSN :

0891-2963

eISSN :

1029-2381

Publisher :

Taylor & Francis, United Kingdom

Volume :

Issue :

2-3

Pages :

115-130

Peer reviewed :

Peer Reviewed verified by ORBi

Available on ORBi :

since 08 January 2015

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