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Palaeo-Ecophysiological Studies on Cretaceous and Tertiary Fossil Floras

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Cenozoic Plants and Climates of the Arctic

Part of the book series: NATO ASI Series ((ASII,volume 27))

Abstract

Stomatal responses (density and size) of cuticles isolated from sequences of fossil leaves may be used to reconstruct palaeo-CO2 changes and the ecophysiological attributes of the plants themselves through geological time. The Cretaceous/Tertiary (110–10 Ma) has particularly large CO2 excursions as predicted by long-term carbon cycle models and reconstructions based on the isotopic signatures of fossil porphyrins. Therefore this interval is particularly suitable for the study of stomatal density responses, which have been shown experimentally to be sensitive to CO2 changes of a similar magnitude. The advantage of this technique is that it may permit the quantification of the large (up to ten times present-day concentrations) increases in global CO2 concentrations expected to occur as a result of the K-T impact. It also provides the first verification of model predictions directly from observations. Possible distortion of the CO2-signal may result through the lack of extant species but these potential difficulties are no greater than those of the long-term carbon cycles models or those associated with the fossil porphyrin techniques. This chapter argues that stomatal studies from Cretaceous and Tertiary material would provide an important proxy indicator to complement present methods of estimating ancient CO2 levels.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, S10 2UQ, UK

    D. J. Beerling

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  1. D. J. Beerling
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Palaeobiology Research Unit, University of East London, Romford Road, London, E15 4LZ, UK

    Michael C. Boulter  & Helen C. Fisher  & 

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© 1994 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Beerling, D.J. (1994). Palaeo-Ecophysiological Studies on Cretaceous and Tertiary Fossil Floras. In: Boulter, M.C., Fisher, H.C. (eds) Cenozoic Plants and Climates of the Arctic. NATO ASI Series, vol 27. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-79378-3_3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-79378-3_3

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-79380-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-79378-3

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