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Fossil Plants
Paul Kenrick
The Natural History Museum, London
Paul Davis
The Natural History Museum, London
Colour illustrations, Glossary, Bibliography, Index
192 pages, 234 x 154 mm
Publisher:
The Natural History Museum, London
Fossil Plants is the first book of its kind to provide an overview of the development of plant life through time focusing on key events and periods. Beginning with the origins of plant life in the sea, the book traces the evolution of land plants, ferns, conifers and their relatives, and flowering plants. It is interwoven with 'snapshots' of landscapes and environments at various periods of geological time, focusing on plants but touching also on plant-animal interactions.
Emphasis is placed on the use of fossil plants in reconstructing climate, vegetation, and other aspects of earth history. It is amply illustrated with both fossil plants, reconstructions of extinct species and the 'living relatives' of fossil plants which hold the key to discovering the environments of the past.
First reference book of its kind
Comprehensive introduction to the natural history of fossil plants
For the interested amateur and professional alike
Chapter 1: In the beginning
Origins of plants, dealing with earliest evidence of plant life
Origins of photosynthesis and atmospheric oxygen
Endosymbiotic theory
Greening of the land: origin of land plants from green algae
Adaptations of plants to life on land
Earliest fossil evidence
Early terrestrial environment: Description of an Early Devonian environment based on the famous Rhynie Chert, Scotland
Chapter 2: Ferns, conifers, and relatives
Origins and evolution of ferns and fern allies (clubmosses, horsetails)
Ferns as ‘grasses’: fern prairies and ecological role of ferns in Palaeozoic and Mesozoic ecosystems
The Seed: when and how did seeds evolve? Origins of conifers and their cousins (cycads, etc)
Archaeopteris a classic botanical missing link between ferns and conifers
Living Fossils: Ginkgo (Maidenhair tree), and Metasequoia
Chapter 3: Forests
The earliest forests and the origin of trees
Different ways to make a tree
Definition and geological and geographic occurrence of petrified forests
Formation of petrified forests: different types of petrifaction and how formed
Identification of fossil woods
Chapter 4: Coal
Formation, geological and geographic occurrence, different types: peat, paper coal, lignite, bitumous, anthracite
Marie Stopes and coal petrology?
The Carboniferous Period and the formation of coal
Common fossils in coal
Chapter 5: Measuring the past
Effects of plant life on terrestrial ecosystem
Plants as indicators of climate change
Growth ring analysis
Leaf physiogamy
Stomatal index
Chapter 6: Shaping the Earth
Floras of the Mesozoic and Cenozoic
Gondwana: distinctive flora of vast Southern Hemisphere continent comprising modern South America, Africa, India, Australia, Antarctica
Jurassic Park: Conifer and fern dominated flora
Tertiary flora of Spitsbergen (Norwegian Arctic) - early evidence for major changes in earth climate
Extinction: evidence for major extinction in fossil record of plants compared with terrestrial and marine animals. Do we see similar patterns in plants?
Chapter 7: Interactions of plants and animals
Early terrestrial ecosystems: invertebrate herbivory in Devonian and Carboniferous.
Evolution of Pollinators - especially bees in Late Mesozoic
Vertebrate herbivores in Palaeozoic
Dinosaur Fodder: What did the dinosaurs eat, apart from each other?
Chapter 8: Modern Earth
Evolution of modern ecosystems during Late Mesozoic and Cenozoic - overview
Evolution of Flowers - a colourful world. Cretaceous origin and diversification of flowering plants
Diversification of grasses, and composites
Origin of tropical rainforest
Epiphytes - origin and evolution (10% land flora)
Glaciation and post glacial floras of Northern Hemisphere, including analysis of pollen record
Timeline
A simplified time line with geological periods and indicating position of major events discussed in text
Classification
Simplified classification of plants including groups and names used in text
Glossary Bibliography Index
“For the interested amateur or student this is an ideal introduction to the history and origins of the green stuff that ultimately keeps us all going.”
Douglas Palmer (New Scientist 29 Jan 2005)
Paul Kenrick is a researcher in the Palaeontology Department of the Natural History Museum.
Paul Davis is the Curator of Palaeobotany and Fossil Bryozoans in the Department of Palaeontology of the Natural History Museum London.
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