Publication Date:
2001-11-27
Description:
The devastating effect on terrestrial plant communities of a bolide impact at the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary is shown in fossil pollen and spore assemblages by a diverse flora being abruptly replaced by one dominated by a few species of fern. Well documented in North America, this fern spike signals widespread deforestation due to an impact winter or massive wildfires. A Southern Hemisphere record of a fern spike, together with a large iridium anomaly, indicates that the devastation was truly global. Recovery of New Zealand plant communities followed a pattern consistent with major climatic perturbations occurring after an impact winter that was possibly preceded by global wildfires.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Vajda, V -- Raine, J I -- Hollis, C J -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2001 Nov 23;294(5547):1700-2.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Department of Geology, Lund University, Tornavagen 13, SE-223 63 Lund, Sweden. vivi.vajda@geol.lu.se〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11721051" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉
Keywords:
Angiosperms/physiology
;
Animals
;
Carbon/metabolism
;
Carbon Dioxide/metabolism
;
Cold Climate
;
*Disasters
;
Dust
;
*Ecosystem
;
Ferns/*physiology
;
Fires
;
Fossils
;
Gymnosperms/physiology
;
*Meteoroids
;
New Zealand
;
North America
;
Pollen/physiology
;
Spores/physiology
;
Sunlight
;
Trees/*physiology
Print ISSN:
0036-8075
Electronic ISSN:
1095-9203
Topics:
Biology
,
Chemistry and Pharmacology
,
Computer Science
,
Medicine
,
Natural Sciences in General
,
Physics
