Introduction to Plant Fossils PDF
Preview Introduction to Plant Fossils
Introduction to Plant Fossils Second Edition Plantremainscanpreserveacriticalpartofthehistory Christopher J. Cleal is Head of Botany at the National oflifeonEarth.Whiletellingthefascinatingevolution- Museum Wales. He is a Fellow of the Geological ary story of plants and vegetation across the last Society, London, and the Linnean Society, London, 500millionyears,thisbookalsocruciallyoffersnon- and is a member of the Fossil Plant Committee of specialists a practical guide tostudying, dealing with the International Association of Plant Taxonomy and interpreting plant fossils. It shows how various (IAPT). He has published nine books and over techniques can be used to reveal the secrets of plant 200 papers in academic journals, dealing with fossils and how to identify common types, such as palaeobotany,stratigraphyandgeoconservation. compressionsandimpressions.Incorporatingthecon- cepts of evolutionary floras, this second edition BarryA.ThomasisanHonoraryProfessorandaLife- includes revised data on all main plant groups, the long Learning Lecturer at AberystwythUniversity latestapproachestonamingplantfossilsusingfossil- and isa Research Fellow at the National Museum taxaandtechniquessuchastomography.Withexten- Wales.Previously,hewasHeadofLifeSciencesand siveillustrationsofplantfossilsandlivingplants,the Dean of the Faculty of Science and Mathematics book encourages readers to think of fossils as once- at Goldsmiths, University of London and Keeper livingorganisms.Itiswrittenforstudentsonintroduc- of Botany at the National Museum Wales. He has toryorintermediatecoursesinpalaeobotany,palaeon- published and edited 28 books and has over 180 tology, plant evolutionary biology and plant science, papers in academic journals, dealing with palaeo- andforamateursinterestedinstudyingplantfossils. botany,geoconservationandlivingplants. Published online by Cambridge University Press Published online by Cambridge University Press Introduction to Plant Fossils Second Edition Christopher J. Cleal National Museum Wales Barry A. Thomas Aberystwyth University Published online by Cambridge University Press UniversityPrintingHouse,CambridgeCB28BS,UnitedKingdom OneLibertyPlaza,20thFloor,NewYork,NY10006,USA 477WilliamstownRoad,PortMelbourne,VIC3207,Australia 314–321,3rdFloor,Plot3,SplendorForum,JasolaDistrictCentre,NewDelhi–110025,India 79AnsonRoad,#06–04/06,Singapore079906 CambridgeUniversityPressispartoftheUniversityofCambridge. ItfurtherstheUniversity’smissionbydisseminatingknowledgeinthepursuitof education,learning,andresearchatthehighestinternationallevelsofexcellence. www.cambridge.org Informationonthistitle:www.cambridge.org/9781108483445 DOI:10.1017/9781108650021 Secondedition©ChristopherJ.ClealandBarryA.Thomas2019 Thispublicationisincopyright.Subjecttostatutoryexception andtotheprovisionsofrelevantcollectivelicensingagreements, noreproductionofanypartmaytakeplacewithoutthewritten permissionofCambridgeUniversityPress. Firstpublished2009 Secondedition2019 PrintedintheUnitedKingdombyTJInternationalLtd,PadstowCornwall AcataloguerecordforthispublicationisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary. LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData Names:Cleal,ChristopherJ.,1951-author.|Thomas,BarryA.,author. Title:Introductiontoplantfossils/ChristopherJ.Cleal,BarryA.Thomas. Description:Secondedition.|NewYork,NY:CambridgeUniversityPress,2019.|Includesbibliographicalreferences andindex. Identifiers:LCCN2018061723|ISBN9781108483445(hardback:alk.paper)|ISBN9781108705028(pbk.:alk.paper) Subjects: LCSH:Plants,Fossil. Classification:LCCQE905.C542019|DDC561–dc23LCrecordavailableathttps://lccn.loc.gov/2018061723 ISBN978-1-108-48344-5Hardback ISBN978-1-108-70502-8Paperback CambridgeUniversityPresshasnoresponsibilityforthepersistenceoraccuracyof URLsforexternalorthird-partyinternetwebsitesreferredtointhispublication anddoesnotguaranteethatanycontentonsuchwebsitesis,orwillremain, accurateorappropriate. Published online by Cambridge University Press Contents Preface page ix Chapter 1 Introduction 1 Whatisaplant? 1 Howdoplantfragmentsgetintothefossilrecord? 2 Typesofplantfossil 3 Whereareplantfossilsfound? 7 Biasinthefossilrecord 10 Whydowestudyplantfossils? 13 Recommendedreading 13 Chapter 2 Highlights of palaeobotanical study 14 Thebeginningsofpalaeobotany 14 Theimportanceofcoal 16 Anatomicalstudies 21 Coalballs 21 Coalpetrologyandpalynology 23 TheGlossopterisfloraandcontinentaldrift 25 Earlylandplants 28 Theageofcycads 30 Floweringplants 33 Thefutureforpalaeobotany 36 Recommendedreading 37 Chapter 3 Studying plant fossils 38 Morphologyofadpressions 38 Macrophotography 38 Transfers 39 Cuticlesandepidermalstructures 40 Extractinginsitupollenandspores 42 Dispersedpollenandspores 42 Three-dimensionallypreservedplantfossils 42 Preparedcasts 42 Tomography 44 Sectioninganatomicallypreservedfossils 45 Mathematicaltechniques 46 Namingplantfossils 47 Reconstructingwholefossilplants 49 Phylogeneticanalysis 50 Biostratigraphyandpalaeobiogeography 50 Curation 53 Siteconservation 53 Recommendedreading 55 Published online by Cambridge University Press vi CONTENTS Chapter 4 Early land plants 56 Alternatinggenerations 56 Adaptingtolifeonland 58 Cryptosporesandtheearliestlandplants 60 Thefirstvascularplants 61 TheRhynieChertflora 62 Zosterophylls 65 Trimerophytes 66 Progymnosperms 69 Recommendedreading 71 Chapter 5 Lycophytes 73 Theearliestherbaceouslycophytes 73 Thebeginningsofmodernherbaceouslycophytes 78 Increaseinsizeandarborescence 80 Cuticlesandpapercoal 89 Rootingstructures 89 Reproduction 91 LycophytepalaeoecologyintheCoalMeasuresswamps 94 Afterthegiants 96 Recommendedreading 98 Chapter 6 Sphenophytes 99 Originandsystematicpositionofthesphenophytes 99 Pseudoborniales 101 Sphenophyllales 102 Archaeocalamitaceae 105 Calamostachyaceae 105 Gondwanasphenophytes 109 Modernsphenophytes 110 Recommendedreading 114 Chapter 7 Ferns 115 Thefirstferns 118 Modernferns 119 Marattiales 119 OtherLatePalaeozoicferns 123 Ophioglossales 123 Filicaleanferns 124 Osmundaceae 125 Schizaeaceae 129 Gleicheniaceae 131 Matoniaceae 133 Dipteridaceae 133 DicksoniaceaeandCyatheaceae 135 Published online by Cambridge University Press CONTENTS vii Polypodiaceousferns 137 Tempskya 140 Heterosporousferns 140 Recommendedreading 144 Chapter 8 Early gymnosperms 145 Whatareovulesandseeds? 145 Gymnospermreproduction 146 Whatplantsdidgymnospermsevolvefrom? 148 Thepteridosperms 148 Lyginopteridales 149 Medullosales 153 Callistophytales 156 Peltasperms 159 Glossopterids 160 Cordaites 162 Recommendedreading 166 Chapter 9 Modern gymnosperms 167 Earlyconifers 167 Modernconifers 173 Ginkgoales 175 Cycads 176 Bennettitales 182 Caytoniales 184 Othergymnospermgroups 185 Gnetales 185 Recommendedreading 187 Chapter 10 Angiosperms 188 Whatmakesanangiosperm? 188 Wood 190 Ancestorsoftheangiosperms 191 Theearliestangiosperms 194 Cretaceousangiosperms 196 Wind-pollinatedangiosperms 202 Theriseofthemonocotyledons 202 Cenozoicangiosperms 205 Recommendedreading 212 Chapter 11 The history of land vegetation 213 Evolutionaryfloras 213 RhyniophyticEvolutionaryFlora 213 EophyticEvolutionaryFlora 214 PalaeophyticEvolutionaryFlora 214 MesophyticEvolutionaryFlora 220 Published online by Cambridge University Press viii CONTENTS CenophyticEvolutionaryFlora 225 Plants–thegreatsurvivors 230 Recommendedreading 232 References 233 Index 243 Colourplatescanbefoundbetweenpages134and135 Published online by Cambridge University Press Preface This book introduces the reader to the study of deeplyindebted.Othersarebasedonpaintingsby plantfossils,andisespeciallyaimedatthosewho Annette Townsend and the late Pauline Dean, havehadlittlepreviousexperienceofthistypeof prepared for books that we published on past palaeontology. We have provided an illustrated plant life (Pardoe & Thomas, 1992; Thomas & text that summarises the main groups of plants Cleal, 1993,1998); these paintingsare inthecol- thatoccurasfossilsandexplainshowoneshould lections of NMW. We are also indebted to many goaboutinvestigatingthem.Practicalguidanceis friends and colleagues who have made available given on techniques that can be used to reveal photographs that illustrate this book: John hidden details of anatomical and reproductive Anderson (Pretoria), Sidney Ash (Albuquerque), characters, as well as the sorts of features that Richard Bateman (Birmingham), Bill Chaloner areusedtoidentifysomeofthemostcommonly (London),MargaretCollinson(London),BillDiMi- found plant fossils. Many of the approaches chele (Washington, DC), Tatyana Dimitrova that are used to interpret plant fossils are dis- (Sofia), Muriel Fairon-Demaret(Liège), Else Marie cussed and we show how they can be used by Friis (Stockholm), Pat Gensel (North Carolina), the palaeobotanist to increase our knowledge of Alan Hemsley (Cardiff), Paul Kenrick (London), plant evolution, palaeoecology, palaeogeography Hans Kerp (Münster), Jiři and Zlatko Kvaček andstratigraphy. (Prague), Jean-Pierre Laveine (Lille), Franz-Josef Althoughwehavecoveredthemaingroupsof Lindemann(Oslo),SteveManchester(Gainesville, fossilsthatthereaderislikelytoencounter,there Florida), Nick Rowe (Montpellier), Alan Spencer has inevitably been some subjectivity in the cov- (London), Ruth Stockey (Edmonton), Don Tidwell erage, reflecting our own research interests that (Utah), Maria Aquirre Urreta (Argentina), Bob arefocussedontheLatePalaeozoicflorasofEur- Wagner(Cordoba),LyndaWarren(Aberystwyth), america and China. Nevertheless, we trust that Joan Watson (Manchester), Wang Ziqiang (Tian- thesortsofapproacheswehavegivenwillhavea jin), Erwin Zodrow (Sydney, Nova Scotia) and wide applicability, and will be of help to all who Nickolas Zouros (Lesvos). Many of the other arelookingatplantfossilsforthefirsttime. photographs (notably those previously included Many of the illustrations that we have in Plant Fossils) were taken by the Photography included here were originally prepared for our Department of NMW, to whom we are also very previousbookentitledPlantFossils,ourfieldguide grateful. Thanksgoto CharlesWellman(Univer- on Coal Measures plants published by the Palae- sity of Sheffield) who first suggested we write ontological Association, and the two volumes in this book, and to Lynda Warren whose careful the Geological Conservation Review series that reading of the manuscript made many improve- weco-authored.ThedrawingsaremostlybyDale ments. Finally, we are extremely grateful to the Evans, Deborah Spillards and Annette Townsend staff of Cambridge University Press for their ofAmgueddfa Cymru–NationalMuseumWales patienceandhelpinseeingthisbookthroughto (hereafter referred to as NMW) to whom we are completion.
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