1.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A
; 96(24): 13857-62, 1999 Nov 23.
Artigo
em Inglês
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-10570163
RESUMO
In conjunction with the Permian-Triassic ecologic crisis approximately 250 million years ago, massive dieback of coniferous vegetation resulted in a degradation of terrestrial ecosystems in Europe. A 4- to 5-million-year period of lycopsid dominance followed, and renewed proliferation of conifers did not occur before the transition between Early and Middle Triassic. We document this delayed re-establishment of equatorial forests on the basis of palynological data. The reconstructed pattern of vegetational change suggests that habitat restoration, migration, and evolutionary processes acted synergistically, setting the stage for successional replacement of lycopsid dominants by conifers within a period of approximately 0.5 million years.