biodiversity changes; diversification; floristic turnover; mass extinction; plant fossils; PyRate
Abstract :
[en] Plants have a long evolutionary history, during which mass extinction events dramatically
affected Earth’s ecosystems and its biodiversity. The fossil record can shed light on the diversi-
fication dynamics of plant life and reveal how changes in the origination–extinction balance
have contributed to shaping the current flora.
We use a novel Bayesian approach to estimate origination and extinction rates in plants
throughout their history. We focus on the effect of the ‘Big Five’ mass extinctions and on estimating
the timing of origin of vascular plants, seed plants and angiosperms.
Our analyses show that plant diversification is characterized by several shifts in origination
and extinction rates, often matching the most important geological boundaries. The estimated
origin of major plant clades predates the oldest macrofossils when considering the uncertainties
associated with the fossil record and the preservation process.
Our findings show that the commonly recognized mass extinctions have affected each plant
group differently and that phases of high extinction often coincided with major floral turnovers.
For instance, after the Cretaceous–Paleogene boundary we infer negligible shifts in
diversification of non-flowering seed plants, but find significantly decreased extinction in
spore-bearing plants and increased origination rates in angiosperms, contributing to their current
ecological and evolutionary dominance.
Silvestro, Daniel ✱; Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Gothenburg, Carl Skottsbergs gata 22B, SE-413 19 G€oteborg, Sweden
Cascales - Miñana, Borja ✱; 2CNRS, UMR Botanique et Bioinformatique de l’Architecture des Plantes (AMAP), Montpellier F-34000, France > Present adress: 3 PPP, Departement de Geologie, Universite de Liege, Allee du 6 Aout, B18 Sart Tilman, B4000 Liege, Belgium
Bacon, Christine D.; Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Gothenburg, Carl Skottsbergs gata 22B, SE-413 19 G€oteborg, Sweden > Laboratorio de Biologıa Molecular (CINBIN), Department of Biology, Universidad Industrial de Santander, Bucaramanga, Colombia
Antonelli, Alexandre; Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Gothenburg, Carl Skottsbergs gata 22B, SE-413 19 G€oteborg, Sweden > Gothenburg Botanical Garden, Carl Skottsbergs gata 22A, SE-413 2 19 G€oteborg, Sweden
✱ These authors have contributed equally to this work.
Language :
English
Title :
Revisiting the origin and diversification of vascular plants through a comprehensive Bayesian analysis of the fossil record
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