Publication Date:
2010-11-13
Description:
Temperatures in tropical regions are estimated to have increased by 3 degrees to 5 degrees C, compared with Late Paleocene values, during the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM, 56.3 million years ago) event. We investigated the tropical forest response to this rapid warming by evaluating the palynological record of three stratigraphic sections in eastern Colombia and western Venezuela. We observed a rapid and distinct increase in plant diversity and origination rates, with a set of new taxa, mostly angiosperms, added to the existing stock of low-diversity Paleocene flora. There is no evidence for enhanced aridity in the northern Neotropics. The tropical rainforest was able to persist under elevated temperatures and high levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide, in contrast to speculations that tropical ecosystems were severely compromised by heat stress.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Jaramillo, Carlos -- Ochoa, Diana -- Contreras, Lineth -- Pagani, Mark -- Carvajal-Ortiz, Humberto -- Pratt, Lisa M -- Krishnan, Srinath -- Cardona, Agustin -- Romero, Millerlandy -- Quiroz, Luis -- Rodriguez, Guillermo -- Rueda, Milton J -- de la Parra, Felipe -- Moron, Sara -- Green, Walton -- Bayona, German -- Montes, Camilo -- Quintero, Oscar -- Ramirez, Rafael -- Mora, German -- Schouten, Stefan -- Bermudez, Hermann -- Navarrete, Rosa -- Parra, Francisco -- Alvaran, Mauricio -- Osorno, Jose -- Crowley, James L -- Valencia, Victor -- Vervoort, Jeff -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2010 Nov 12;330(6006):957-61. doi: 10.1126/science.1193833.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Box 0843-03092, Balboa, Ancon, Republic of Panama. jaramilloc@si.edu〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21071667" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉
Keywords:
Angiosperms
;
Atmosphere
;
Biodiversity
;
Carbon Dioxide
;
Colombia
;
*Ecosystem
;
Extinction, Biological
;
*Global Warming
;
*Plants
;
Pollen
;
Spores
;
Temperature
;
Time
;
*Trees
;
*Tropical Climate
;
Venezuela
Print ISSN:
0036-8075
Electronic ISSN:
1095-9203
Topics:
Biology
,
Chemistry and Pharmacology
,
Computer Science
,
Medicine
,
Natural Sciences in General
,
Physics
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