Paleobotany, also spelled as palaeobotany (from the Greek words paleon = old and "botany", study of plants), is the branch of paleontology or paleobiology dealing with the recovery and identification of plant remains from geological contexts, and their use for the biological reconstruction of past environments, and the evolution of both the plant kingdom and life in general. A synonym is paleophytology. Paleobotany includes the study of terrestrial plant fossils, as well as the study of prehistoric marine photoautotrophs, such as photosynthetic algae, seaweeds or kelp. A closely-related field is palynology, which is the study of fossilized and extant spores and pollen.

Paleobotany is important in the reconstruction of ancient ecological systems and climate, known as paleoecology and paleoclimatology respectively; and is fundamental to the study of green plant development and evolution. Paleobotany has also become important to the field of archaeology, primarily for the use of phytoliths in relative dating and in paleoethnobotany,

Overview of the Paleobotanical Record

Macroscopic remains of true vascular plants are first found in the fossil record during the Silurian Period of the Paleozoic era.. Some dispersed, fragmentary fossils of disputed affinity, primarily spores and cuticles, have been found in rocks from the Ordovician Period in Oman, and are thought to derive from liverwort- or moss-grade fossil plants (Wellman et al., 2003).

An important early land plant fossil locality is the Rhynie Chert, an Early Devonian sinter (hot spring) deposit composed primarily of silica found outside the town of Rhynie in Scotland. The Rhynie Chert is exceptional due to its preservation of several different clades of plants, from mosses and lycopods to more unusual, problematic forms. Many fossil animals, including arthropods and arachnids, are also found in the Rhynie Chert, and it offers a unique window on the history of early terrestrial life.

Plant-derived macrofossils become abundant in the Late Devonian and include tree trunks, fronds, and roots. The earliest tree is Archaeopteris, which bears simple, fern-like leaves spirally arranged on branches atop a conifer-like trunk (Meyer-Berthaud et al., 1999).

Widespread coal swamp deposits across North America and Europe during the Carboniferous Period contain a wealth of fossils containing arborescent lycopods up to 30 meters tall, abundant seed plants, such as conifers and seed ferns, and countless smaller, herbaceous plants.

Angiosperms (flowering plants) evolved during the Mesozoic, and flowering plant pollen and leaves first appear during the Early Cretaceous, approximately 130 million years ago.

See also

• Evolutionary history of plants
• Plant fossil

Notable Paleobotanists

• Kaspar Maria von Sternberg (1761–1838), the "father of paleobotany"
• Dunkinfield Henry Scott (1854-1934), analysis of the structures of fossil plants

References

• Brigitte Meyer-Berthaud, S.E. Scheckler, J. Wendt, "Archaeopteris is the Earliest Modern Tree." Nature, 398, 700-701 (22 April 1999) | doi:10.1038/19516
• Charles H. Wellman, Peter L. Osterloff and Uzma Mohiuddin, "Fragments of the Earliest Land Plants." Nature, 425, 282-285 (18 September 2003) | doi: 10.1038/nature01884

Further Reading

• Stewart, W.N. and Rothwell, G.W. 1993. Paleobotany and the evolution of plants, Second edition. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. ISBN 0-521-38294-7
• Taylor, T. N. and E. L. Taylor. 1993. The Biology and Evolution of Fossil Plants, Prentice-Hall, Inc., Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, USA. ISBN 0-13-651589-4

External links

• International Organisation of Paleobotany
• Botanical Society of America - Paleobotanical Section
• Paleobotany Research Group, University Münster, Germany.
• The Biota of Early Terrestrial Ecosystems: The Rhynie Chert, University of Aberdeen, UK.
• Bibliography of Paleobotany
• The Sternberg Project
• Paleobotany - 1911 Encyclopaedia Britannica article
• PaleoNet - listservs and links related to paleontology

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