Hostname: page-component-84b7d79bbc-lrf7s Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-29T10:27:04.208Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Time resolution in terrestrial macrofloras: Guidelines from modern accumulations

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 July 2017

Robyn J. Burnham*
Affiliation:
Museum of Paleontology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1079

Extract

The evidence available for determining time resolution in plant fossil deposits can be subdivided easily into two general categories: the information provided by the biological properties of the plants and the information provided by the physical properties of the sediments and accumulation styles. Accordingly, this contribution is divided into two sections, covering these two aspects of time resolution from modern plant accumulations. From a standpoint of modern macrofloral accumulation, there are four ideas that have guided this chapter.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © 1993 Paleontological Society 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Addicott, F.T. 1978. Abscission strategies in the behavior of tropical trees, p. 381398. In Tomlinson, P.B. and Zimmermann, M.H., (eds.), Tropical trees as living systems. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Anderson, J.M., and Swift, M.J. 1983. Decomposition in tropical forests, p. 287309. In Sutton, S.L., Whitmore, T.C., and Chadwick, A.C., (eds.), Tropical Rain Forest: Ecology and Management. Blackwell, Oxford.Google Scholar
Augspurger, C. 1985. A cue for synchronous flowering, p. 133150. In Leigh, E.G., Rand, A.S. and Windsor, D. M., (eds.), The Ecology of a Tropical Forest: Seasonal Rhythms and Long-term Change. Smithsonian Inst. Press, Washington, D.C. Google Scholar
Behrensmeyer, A.K., and Hook, R.K., et al. 1992. Paleoenvironmental contexts and taphonomic modes, p. 15136. In Behrensmeyer, A.K., Damuth, J.D., DiMichele, W.A., Sues, H-D., and Wing, S.L., (eds.), Terrestrial Ecosystems Through Time. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.Google Scholar
Borchert, R. 1983. Phenology and control of flowering in tropical trees. Biotropica, 15(2):8189.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brokaw, N.V.L. 1985. Treefalls, regrowth, and community structure in tropical forests, p. 5371. In Pickett, S.T.A. and White, P.S., (eds.), The Ecology of Natural Disturbance and Patch Dynamics. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
Burnham, R.J. 1989. Relationships between standing vegetation and leaf litter in a paratropical forest: implications for paleobotany. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology, 58:532.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Burnham, R.J. 1990. Paleobotanical implications of drifted seeds and fruits from modern mangrove litter, Twin Cays, Belize. Palaios, 5:364370.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Burnham, R.J. in press. Paleoecological and floristic heterogeneity in the plant fossil record: an analysis based on the Eocene of Washington. U. S. Geological Survey Bulletin Series.Google Scholar
Burnham, R.J., and Spicer, R.A. 1986. Forest litter preserved by volcanic activity at El Chichón, Mexico: a potentially accurate record of the pre-emption vegetation. Palaios, 1:158161.Google Scholar
Burnham, R.J., Wing, S.L., and Parker, G.G. 1992. The reflection of deciduous forest communities in leaf litter: implications for autochthonous litter assemblages from the fossil record. Paleobiology, 18:3049.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Collinson, M.E. 1983. Accumulations of fruits and seeds in three small sedimentary environments in southern England and their paleoecological implications. Annals of Botany, 52:583592.Google Scholar
Crane, P.R., and Stockey, R.A. 1985. Growth and reproductive biology of Joffrea speirsii gen. et sp. nov. a Cercidiphyllum-like plant from the Late Paleocene of Alberta, Canada. Canadian Journal Botany, 63:340364.Google Scholar
Crepet, W.L., Dilcher, D.L., and Potter, F.W. 1974. Eocene Angiosperm flowers. Science, 185:781782.Google Scholar
Dilcher, D.L., 1974. Approaches to the identification of angiosperm leaf remains. Botanical Review 40:1157.Google Scholar
Dimichele, W.A., and Demaris, P.J. 1987. Structure and dynamics of a Pennsylvanian-age Lepidodendron forest: Colonizers of a disturbed swamp habitat in the Herrin (No.6) Coal of Illinois. Palaios, 2:146157.Google Scholar
Dimichele, W.A., and Nelson, W.J. 1989. Small-scale spatial heterogeneity in Pennsylvanian-age vegetation from the roof shale of the Springfield Coal (Illinois Basin). Palaios, 4:276280.Google Scholar
Dimichele, W.A., and Phillips, T.L. 1988. Paleoecology of the middle Pennsylvanian-age Herrin coal swamp (Illinois) near a contemporaneous river system, the Walshville paleochannel. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology, 56:151176.Google Scholar
Esau, K. 1965. Plant Anatomy. John Wiley & Sons, New York, 767p.Google Scholar
Ewel, J.J. 1976. Litterfall and leaf decomposition in a tropical forest in eastern Guatemala. Journal of Ecology, 64:293308.Google Scholar
Farley, M.B. 1990. Vegetation distribution across the early Eocene depositional landscape from palynological analysis. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 79:1127.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ferguson, D.K. 1985. The origin of leaf-assemblages – new light on an old problem. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology, 46:117188.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Foster, R.B. 1985. The seasonal rhythm of fruitfall on Barro Colorado Island, p. 151172. In Leigh, E.G., Rand, A.S. and Windsor, D. M., (eds.), The Ecology of a Tropical Forest: Seasonal Rhythms and Long-term Change. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington D.C. Google Scholar
Frangi, J.L., and Lugo, A.E. 1985. Ecosystem dynamics of a subtropical floodplain forest. Ecological Monographs, 55(3): 351369.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Frankie, G.W., Baker, H.G., and Opler, P.A. 1974. Comparative phenological studies of trees in tropical wet and dry forests in the lowlands of Costa Rica. Journal of Ecology, 62:881913.Google Scholar
Frazier, D.E. 1967. Recent deltaic deposits of the Mississippi river: their development and chronology. Transactions, Gulf Coast Association of Geological Societies, 17:287311.Google Scholar
Frazier, D.E., and Osanik, A. 1969. Recent peat deposits - Louisiana Coastal Plain, p. 6385. In Dapples, E.C. and Hopkins, M.E., (eds.), Environment of Coal Deposition. Geological Society of America Special Paper 114.Google Scholar
Friis, E.M. 1984. Preliminary report of Upper Cretaceous Angiosperm reproductive organs from Sweden and their level of organization. Annals Missouri Botanical Garden, 71:403418.Google Scholar
Friis, E.M. 1990. Silvianthemum suecicim gen. et sp. nov., a new saxifragalean flower from the Late Cretaceous of Sweden. Biologiske Skrifter, 36:135.Google Scholar
Fritz, W. J. 1980. Reinterpretation of the depositional environment of the Yellowstone “fossil forests”. Geology, 8:309313.Google Scholar
Gastaldo, R.A. 1987. Confirmation of Carboniferous clastic swamp communities. Nature, 326:869871.Google Scholar
Gastaldo, R.A. 1989. Preliminary observations on phytotaphonomic assemblages in a subtropical/temperate Holocene bayhead delta: Mobile Delta, Gulf Coastal Plain, Alabama. Review Palaeobotany and Palynology, 58:6183.Google Scholar
Gastaldo, R.A. 1990. The paleobotanical character of log assemblages necessary to differentiate blow-downs resulting from cyclonic winds. Palaios, 5:472478.Google Scholar
Gastaldo, R.A. 1991. Plant taphonomic characer of the Late Carboniferous Hamilton Quarry, Kansas, USA: preservational modes of walchian conifers and implied relationships for residency time in aquatic environments, p. 393399. In Kovar-Eder, J., (ed.), Paleovegetational Development in Europe and Regions Relevant to its Palaeofloristic Evolution. Museum of Natural History, Vienna.Google Scholar
Gastaldo, R.A. 1992a. Taphonomic considerations for plant evolutionary investigations. Palaeobotanist, 41: 211223.Google Scholar
Gastaldo, R.A. 1992b. Regenerative growth in fossil horsetails following burial by alluvium. Historical Biology, 6:203219.Google Scholar
Gastaldo, R.A., Demko, T.M., Liu, Y., Keefer, W.D., and Abston, S.L. 1989. Biostratinomic processes for the development of mud-cast logs in Carboniferous and Holocene swamps. Palaios, 4:356365.Google Scholar
Gastaldo, R.A., Douglass, D.P., and McCarroll, S.M. 1987. Origin, characteristics, and provenance of plant macrodetritus in a Holocene crevasse splay, Mobile Delta, Alabama. Palaios, 2:229240.Google Scholar
Gastaldo, R.A., and Huc, A.-Y. 1992. Sediment facies, depositional environments, and distribution of phytoclasts in the Recent Mahakam River Delta, Kalimantan, Indonesia. Palaios, 7:574590.Google Scholar
Goulter, P.F.E., and Allaway, W.G. 1979. Litter fall and decomposition in a mangrove stand, Avicennia marina (Forsk.) Vierh., in Middle Harbor, Sydney. Autralian Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research 30:541546.Google Scholar
Gunn, C.R., and Dennis, J.V. 1976. World guide to tropical drift seeds and fruits. Demeter Press, New York, 240p.Google Scholar
Haines, B., and Foster, R.B. 1976. Energy flow through litter in a Panamanian forest. Journal of Ecology 65:147155.Google Scholar
Hickey, L.J., and McWeeney, L.J. 1992. Plants at the K/T boundary (letter to Nature). Nature, 356:295296.Google Scholar
Kalliola, R., Salo, J. and Makinen, Y. 1987. Regeneracion natural de selvas en la Amazonia Peruana 1: Dinamica fluvial y sucesion ribereña. Memorias del Museo de Historia Natural “Javier Prado” No 19A. Univ. Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, Lima, 102p.Google Scholar
Kaushik, N.K., and Hynes, H.G.N. 1968. Experimental studies on the role of autumn-shed leaves in aquatic environments. Journal of Ecology, 56:229243.Google Scholar
Kaushik, N.K. 1971. The fate of the dead leaves that fall into streams. Archivos Hydrobiologie, 68:465515.Google Scholar
Klinge, H. 1968. Litter production in an area of Amazonian Terra Firme Forest. Part I. Litterfall, organic carbon and total Nitrogen contents of litter. Amazoniana, 1(4):287302.Google Scholar
Kosters, E.C., Chmura, G.L., and Bailey, A. 1987. Sedimentary and botanical factors influencing peat accumulation in the Mississippi Delta. Journal of the Geological Society, London, 144:423434.Google Scholar
Kunkel-Westphal, I., and Kunkel, P. 1979. Litterfall in a Guatemalan primary forest, with details of leaf-shedding by some common tree species. Journal of Ecology, 67:665686.Google Scholar
Lamboy, W., and Lesnikowska, A. 1988. Some statistical methods useful in the analysis of plant paleoecological data. Palaios, 3(1):8694.Google Scholar
Liu, Y., and Gastaldo, R.A. 1992. Characteristics and provenance of log-transported gravels in a Carboniferous channel deposit. Journal Sedimentary Petrology, 62(6): 10721083.Google Scholar
Martinez-Yrizar, A., and Sarukhan, J. 1990. Litterfall patterns in a tropical deciduous forest in Mexico over a five-year period. Journal of Tropical Ecology 6:433444.Google Scholar
Millar, C.S. 1974. Decomposition of coniferous leaf litter, p105–125. In Dickinson, C.H. & Pugh, G.J.F., (eds.), Biology of Plant Litter Decomposition. Academic Press, London.Google Scholar
Miller, C.N. and Crabtree, D.R. 1989. A new taxodiaceous seed cone from the Oligocene of Washington. American Journal of Botany, 76(1): 133142.Google Scholar
Miller, C.N., and Malinky, J.M. 1986. Seed cones of Pinus from the Late Cretaceous of New Jersey, U.S.A. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology, 46:257272.Google Scholar
Rai, S.N., and Proctor, J. 1986. Ecological studies on four rainforests in Karnataka, India. II. Litterfall. Journal of Ecology, 74:455463.Google Scholar
Raymond, A. 1987. Interpreting ancient swamp communities: can we see the forest in the peat? Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology, 52:217231.Google Scholar
Retallack, G., and Dilcher, D.L. 1981. A coastal hypothesis for the dispersal and rise to dominance of flowering plants, p27–77. In Niklas, K.J., (ed.), Paleobotany, Paleoecology and Evolution. Praeger, New York.Google Scholar
Rex, G. 1986. Experimental modelling as an aid to interpreting the original three-dimensional structures of compressions, p17–38. In Spicer, R.A. and Thomas, B.A., (eds.), Systematic and Taxonomic Approaches in Palaeobotany. Systematics Association Volume 31, Clarendon Press, Oxford.Google Scholar
Rex, G., and Chaloner, W.G. 1983. The experimental formation of plant compression fossils. Palaeontology, 26(2):231252.Google Scholar
Rico-Gray, V., and Lot, A. 1983. Produccion de hojarasca del manglar de la Laguna de la Mancha, Veracruz, Mexico. Biotica, 8:295301.Google Scholar
Ridley, H.N. 1930. Dispersal of plants throughout the world. Reeve, London, 744p.Google Scholar
Ryer, T.A., and Langer, A.W. 1980. Thickness change involved in the peat-to-coal transformation for a bitumnious coal of Cretaceous age in central Utah. Journal Sedimentary Petrology, 50:987992.Google Scholar
Scheihing, M.W. 1980. Reduction of wind velocity by the forest canopy and the rarity of non-arborescent plants in the Upper Carboniferous fossil record. Argumenta Palaeobotanica, 6:133138.Google Scholar
Scheihing, M.W., and Pfefferkorn, H.W. 1984. The taphonomy of land plants in the Orinoco delta: a model for the indorporation of plant parts in clastic sediments of Late Carboniferous age of Euramerica. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology, 41:205240.Google Scholar
Sigafoos, R.S. 1964. Botanical evidence of floods and floodplain deposition. U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 485-A, 35p.Google Scholar
Spicer, R.A. 1981. The sorting and deposition of allochthonous plant material in a modern environment at Silwood Lake, Silwood Park, Berkshire, England. U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1143, 77p.Google Scholar
Spicer, R.A., Burnham, R.J., Grant, P., and Glicken, H. 1985. Pityrogramma calomelanos, the primary post-eruption colonizer of Volcán Chichonal, Chiapas, Mexico. American Fern Journal, 75:15.Google Scholar
Spicer, R.A., and Wolfe, J. A. 1987. Plant taphonomy of late Holocene deposits in Trinity (Clair Engle) Lake, northern California. Paleobiology 13:227245.Google Scholar
Stout, J. 1980. Leaf decomposition rates in Costa Rica lowland tropical rainforest streams. Biotropica, 12:264272.Google Scholar
Tiffney, B.H. 1977. Fruits and seeds of the Brandon Lignite: Magnoliaceae. Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, 75:299323.Google Scholar
Wheeler, E.A., Baas, P. and Gasson, P.E., eds. 1989. IAWA list of microscopic features for hardwood identification. IAWA Bulletin, 10:219332.Google Scholar
Wing, S.L. 1984. Relation of paleovegetation to geometry and cyclicity of some fluvial carbonaceous deposits. Journal of Sedimentary Petrology, 54:5266.Google Scholar
Wnuk, C., and Pfefferkorn, H.W. 1984. The life-habits and paleoecology of Middle Pennsylvanian medullosan pteridosperms based on an in situ assemblage from the Bernice Basin (Sullivan County, Pennsylvania, U.S.A.). Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology, 41:329351.Google Scholar
Wnuk, C. 1987. A Pennsylvanian-age terrestrial storm deposit: using plant fossils to characterize the history and process of sediment accumulation. Journal of Sedimentary Petrology, 57:212221.Google Scholar
Wolfe, J.A. 1971. Tertiary climatic fluctuations and methods of analysis of Tertiary floras. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 9:2757.Google Scholar
Wolfe, J.A. 1991. Paleobotanical evidence for a June ‘impact winter’ at the Cretaceous/Tertiary boundary. Nature, 352:420423.Google Scholar
Yanosky, T.M. 1982. Effects of flooding upon woody vegetation along parts of the Potomac River flood plain. U. S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1206, 21p.Google Scholar