Climate shifts drove plant diversity explosions over 140 million years
A study of 60,000 fossils shows extreme heat triggered evolution of most new plant groups.
Researchers examined fossil pollen and spores from three continents, including southeastern Australia. They traced how climate shaped plant evolution over 140 million years.
The warmest periods lasted a few million years each. They sparked rapid emergence of new plant types.
Cooler climates saw little change. The analysis overcame major biases in the fossil record.
It used advanced statistics on over 60,000 fossils. The results apply to flowering plants, conifers, mosses and ferns.
They show a general pattern. Extreme greenhouse heat links to plant diversity.
There are now at least 350,000 flowering plant species on Earth. The research appeared in Nature Plants.
Climate change can wipe out existing plant groups. It can also help new ones evolve.
- 60,000
- Fossils analysed
- 140 million years
- Time period studied
- 350,000
- Current flowering plant species
Why it mattersRapid climate change drives plant extinctions faster than nature can evolve replacements. This warns of consequences from current human-driven warming.
AustraliaSuggests Australian plant species face extinction risk from rapid warming, since natural evolutionary replacement takes millions of years to occur.
✓ Claims checked against the source. checked 2 h ago
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