Jurassic phytogeography and climates: new data and model comparisons 论文

摘要

Leaves are a plant's direct means of interacting with the atmosphere, and their morphology is often attuned to and reflects prevailing environmental conditions. Although better understood and documented for angiosperms (or 'flowering plants'), non-angiosperms also exhibit a phytogeographic pattern linked most strongly to the evaporation/precipitation ratio, a relationship often reflected in their foliar morphologies. We have used this to interpret Jurassic terrestrial climate conditions along a spectrum defined by climate-sensitive lithological end-members such as evaporites and coals. Global climate zones, or biomes, were determined by exploring the foliar morphology/climate relationship using multivariate statistical analysis.