Oligocene plant ecological strategies in low-latitude Asia unraveled by leaf economics. (15th September 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Li, Qijia; Su, Tao; Liu, Yusheng (Christopher); Quan, Cheng
• Is Part Of: Journal of Asian earth sciences. Volume 182(2019)
• Publication Date: 2019-09-15
• Subjects: Leaf economics -- Ecological strategy -- Low-latitude Asia -- Early Oligocene -- Leaf mass per area -- Fossil plants; Earth sciences -- Asia -- Periodicals; Sciences de la terre -- Asie -- Périodiques; Earth sciences; Asia; Periodicals; 555.05
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jseaes.2019.103933
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1367-9120

Abstract

Highlights: The Oligocene climate of Baise, low-latitude China is reconstructed based on plant fossils. The paleo-leaf mass per area and leaf lifespan were quantitatively estimated. Ecological strategies suggest a stable community in the Oligocene low-latitude China. Abstract: The Oligocene represents an important epoch in the history of the stepwise global climate evolution from a warm climate to a cooler climate. The change probably introduced selective pressures influencing ecological strategies and caused the past ecosystems restructured. However, little is known about the paleoenvironment and adaptive plant ecological strategies in the terrestrial realm of the low latitudes. Here, based on the plant fossils from the Baigang Formation of the Baise Basin, low-latitude China, the paleoclimate, paleovegetational type, and paleoecological strategy are reconstructed using leaf physiognomic analyses, Integrated Plant Record and leaf economics spectrum, respectively. The results show that, under a warm and wet sub-tropical climate with low seasonality, the Oligocene Baise flora was dominated by 'slow-return (maximized resource retention)' species but mixed with a considerable proportion of 'fast-return (rapid resource acquisition)' species. These ecological strategies might promote the community to maximize the use of limited living resources, and at the same time to better tolerate potential extreme situations. These results allow us to examine which ecological strategies that fossil plants selected under a given paleoclimate condition and might potentially provide a clue to predict the direction of ecological strategy changes in a future climate change scenario.