The vegetation of Antarctica through geological time / David J. Cantrill, Royal Botanic Gardens, Melbourne, Imogen Poole, Universiteit Utrecht, the Netherlands.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

"The fossil history of plant life in Antarctica is central to our understanding of the evolution of vegetation through geological time and also plays a key role in reconstructing past configurations of the continents and associated climatic conditions. This book provides the only detailed overview of the development of Antarctic vegetation from the Devonian period to the present day, presenting Earth scientists with valuable insights into the break up of the ancient supercontinent of Gondwana. Details of specific floras and ecosystems are provided within the context of changing geological, geographical and environmental conditions, alongside comparisons with contemporaneous and modern ecosystems. The authors demonstrate how palaeobotany contributes to our understanding of the palaeoenvironmental changes in the southern hemisphere during this period of Earth history. The book is a complete and up-to-date reference for researchers and students in Antarctic palaeobotany and terrestrial palaeoecology"-- Provided by publisher.

"Throughout the Devonian a remarkable transformation of the land was under way. The vegetation which had comprised small, probably streamside plants only a few centimetres high in the earliest Devonian changed dramatically. The evolution of secondary growth (wood) paved the way for an increase in stature and the origin of the tree habit (such as that exhibited by the progymnosperm, Archaeopteris). By the late Devonian forests were growing across the landscape creating new niches for understory plants, resulting in an increase in diversity within terrestrial ecosystems. This transformation paved the way for animal groups to follow the plants on to land and begin to colonise the new niches created by the plants"-- Provided by publisher.

Print version record.

1. Historical background and geological framework -- 2. Early and middle Paleozoic climates and colonisation of the land -- 3. Collapsing ice sheets and evolving polar forests of the middle to late Paleozoic -- 4. Icehouse to hothouse : floral turnover, the Permian-Triassic crisis and Triassic vegetation -- 5. Gondwana break-up and landscape change across the Triassic-Jurassic transition and beyond -- 6. Fern-conifer dominated early Cretaceous (Aptian-Albian) ecosystems and the angiosperm invasion -- 7. The origin of southern temperate ecosystems -- 8. The heat is on: Paleogene floras and the Paleocene-Eocene warm period -- 9. After the heat: late Eocene to Pliocene climatic cooling and modification of the Antarctic.

English.

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