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Quaternary Tropical Plant Extinction: A Paleoecological Perspective from the Neotropics

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Saving a Million Species

Abstract

We have found no examples of global plant extinctions from the tropics within the Quaternary. Examples of extinctions over longer periods of time are readily documented within the fossil record, with the loss of whole families evident between Eocene and modern times (Morley, 2000, 2007). Herein lies a clue to the problem of detecting extinction of tropical plants—the taxonomic resolution of the fossil record.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Florida Institute of Technology, Melbourne, USA

    Mark B. Bush & Nicole A. S. Mosblech

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  1. Mark B. Bush
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  2. Nicole A. S. Mosblech
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Lee Hannah

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Bush, M.B., Mosblech, N.A.S. (2012). Quaternary Tropical Plant Extinction: A Paleoecological Perspective from the Neotropics. In: Hannah, L. (eds) Saving a Million Species. Island Press/Center for Resource Economics. https://doi.org/10.5822/978-1-61091-182-5_12

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