Publication Date:
2015-01-17
Description:
Vegetation structure is a key determinant of ecosystems and ecosystem function, but paleoecological techniques to quantify it are lacking. We present a method for reconstructing leaf area index (LAI) based on light-dependent morphology of leaf epidermal cells and phytoliths derived from them. Using this proxy, we reconstruct LAI for the Cenozoic (49 million to 11 million years ago) of middle-latitude Patagonia. Our record shows that dense forests opened up by the late Eocene; open forests and shrubland habitats then fluctuated, with a brief middle-Miocene regreening period. Furthermore, endemic herbivorous mammals show accelerated tooth crown height evolution during open, yet relatively grass-free, shrubland habitat intervals. Our Patagonian LAI record provides a high-resolution, sensitive tool with which to dissect terrestrial ecosystem response to changing Southern Ocean conditions during the Cenozoic.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Dunn, Regan E -- Stromberg, Caroline A E -- Madden, Richard H -- Kohn, Matthew J -- Carlini, Alfredo A -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2015 Jan 16;347(6219):258-61. doi: 10.1126/science.1260947.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Department of Biology and Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA. dunnr@u.washington.edu. ; Department of Biology and Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA. ; Department of Organismal Biology and Anatomy, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA. ; Department of Geosciences, Boise State University, Boise, ID 83725, USA. ; Paleontologia de Vertebrados, Universidad Nacional de La Plata, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Cientificas y Tecnicas (CONICET), La Plata, Argentina.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25593182" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉
Keywords:
Animals
;
Biological Evolution
;
Cell Shape
;
Cell Size
;
*Climate Change
;
Costa Rica
;
*Ecosystem
;
*Forests
;
Fossils
;
Grassland
;
Mammals/anatomy & histology
;
Plant Epidermis/cytology
;
*Plant Leaves/anatomy & histology
;
*Plants
;
South America
;
Time
;
Tooth Crown/anatomy & histology
Print ISSN:
0036-8075
Electronic ISSN:
1095-9203
Topics:
Biology
,
Chemistry and Pharmacology
,
Computer Science
,
Medicine
,
Natural Sciences in General
,
Physics
