Home / History of Palaeobotany / Progress in Palaeobotany and Palynology

M. Barbacka et al. (2022): Polish Palaeobotany: 750 Million Years of Plant History as Revealed in a Century of Studies. Mesozoic Macroflora. Open access, Acta Societatis Botanicorum Poloniae, 91.
See also here.

O.M. Barth (2016): Palynology in Brazil: the past, present, and future. Abstract, starting on PDF page 12.
Abstracts, XIV International Palynological Congress, X International Organisation of Palaeobotany Conference, Salvador, Brazil.

M.E.C. Bernardes-de-Oliveira et al. (2016): The history of Brazilian paleobotany. Abstract, starting on PDF page 17.
Abstracts, XIV International Palynological Congress, X International Organisation of Palaeobotany Conference, Salvador, Brazil.

M. Bernardi and G. Carnevale (2019): The Italian geo-palaeontological record of major turnovers in the history of life. In PDF, Bollettino della Società Paleontologica Italiana, 58: 1-3.

Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, Lucknow, India:
Research Highlights.
Annual Reports (in PDF). See also:
Challenges in Indian Palaeobiology (in PDF).

! H.J.B. Birks et al. (2023): Approaches to pollen taxonomic harmonisation in Quaternary palynology. Free access. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology, 319.

H.J.B. Birks et al. (2016): The fourth dimension of vegetation. Science, 354: 412-413.

H. Blattmann (2014): Massenmediale Logik in der Wissenschaft. PDF file, in German. GFZ Lectures, Potsdam, Deutsches GeoForschungsZentrum, 31 p. https://doi.org/10.2312/GFZ.LECT.001.

! C.K. Boyce (2010): The evolution of plant development in a paleontological context. In PDF Current Opinion in Plant Biology, 13: 102-107. See here as well.
! Note figure 1: Early radiation of vascular plant form.
"... Contrary to what might be expected from the observation of extant plants alone, the fossil record indicates that most aspects of vascular plant form evolved multiple times during their Paleozoic radiation. Opportunity is increasing to unite information from fossil and living plants to understand the evolution of developmental mechanisms ..."

W.E. Boyd and G.L. Pretty (2009): Some prospects for archaeological palaeobotany in Australia: An example from South Australia. Australian Archaeology.

! Jamie Boyer, New York Botanical Garden: Paleoplant.blogspot.

Ewen Callaway (2011): Fossil data enter the web period. Palaeontologists call for more sharing of raw information. Nature, 472. Provided by the Internet Archive´s Wayback Machine.

S.R.S. Cevallos-Ferriz et al. (2012): Perspectiva paleobotånica y geológica de la biodiversidad en México. In PDF.

N. Chaffey (2011): Rocks versus Clocks. Botany one (a weblog produced by The Annals of Botany Company).

M. Cheek (2016): Kew´s successful year of discoveries. Scroll down to "Fossil discovery".
Website outdated. The link is to a version archived by the Internet Archive´s Wayback Machine.

C.J. Cleal et al. (2021): Palaeobotanical experiences of plant diversity in deep time. 1: How well can we identify past plant diversity in the fossil record? Abstract, Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 576.
See likewise here (in PDF).
"... Autochthonous floras provide the most direct evidence of vegetation diversity but these are rare; most plant beds are allochthonous with plant remains that have been subjected to varying levels of fragmentation, transportation and time averaging
[...] the plant fossil record provides clear evidence of the dynamic history of vegetation through geological times, including the effects of major processes such as climate changes and mass extinctions ..."

! J.C. Coates et al. (2011): Plants and the Earth system - past events and future challenges. In PDF, New Phytologist, 89: 370-373.
See also here.

! B. Crair (2023): The Fossil Flowers That Rewrote the History of Life. Free access, The New Yorker.
"... Instead of breaking rocks, she crumbled soft sediments into a sieve, washed away the sand grains in water, and saved the tiny specks of charcoal that were left behind.
[...] Fresh discoveries, she added, could radically change the known history of flowers.
[...] “A day in the field can be years of work in the laboratory.” ..."

W.L. Crepet and M.A. Gandolfo (2008): Paleobotany in the Post-Genomics Era: Introduction. In PDF, Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden, 95.
See also here.

W.L. Crepet and M.A. Gandolfo (2008): Paleobotany in the Post-Genomics Era: Introduction. Abstract, Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden, 95: 1-2. See also here. Nine articles (abstracts free) from the symposium "Paleobotany in the Post-genomics Era", which was held on August 02, 2006, at California State University, Chico, California, U.S.A.

Senatskommission für Zukunftsaufgaben der Geowissenschaften der Deutschen Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG):
Dynamische Erde – Zukunftsaufgaben der Geowissenschaften. 8.1 - Die Evolution von Atmosphäre und Ozeanen. In German
Still available through the Internet Archive´s Wayback Machine.

Senatskommission für Zukunftsaufgaben der Geowissenschaften der Deutschen Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG):
Dynamische Erde – Zukunftsaufgaben der Geowissenschaften. 10.2 – Herkunft und Entwicklung des Lebens. In German.
Still available through the Internet Archive´s Wayback Machine.

Senatskommission für Zukunftsaufgaben der Geowissenschaften der Deutschen Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG):
Dynamische Erde – Zukunftsaufgaben der Geowissenschaften. 10.5 – Extreme und unbekannte Habitate. In German.
Still available through the Internet Archive´s Wayback Machine.

Senatskommission für Zukunftsaufgaben der Geowissenschaften der Deutschen Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG):
Dynamische Erde – Zukunftsaufgaben der Geowissenschaften. 10.3 – Krisen der Evolution und Dynamik der Biodiversität. In German.
Still available through the Internet Archive´s Wayback Machine.

! R. Dhar et al. (2022): The problem with APC and open access: Hurdles in publishing practice. Free access, Asian Journal of Medical Sciences, 13. See also here (in PDF):

E.M. Dillon et al. (2023): Challenges and directions in analytical paleobiology. Open access, Paleobiology, 49: 377–393.
"... Over the last 50 years, access to new data and analytical tools has expanded the study of analytical paleobiology
[...] Recent progress has been accelerated by a collective push toward more collaborative, interdisciplinary, and open science ..."

! W.A. DiMichele and R.A. Gastaldo (2008): Plant Paleoecology in Deep Time. PDF file, Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden 95: 144-198. See also here (abstract).

M. Domínguez-Rodrigo et al. (2011): How Can Taphonomy Be Defined in the XXI Century? In PDF, Journal of Taphonomy, 9: 1-13.

M. Eberlein (2015): Bestimmungs- und Verbreitungsatlas der Tertiärflora Sachsens – Angiospermenblätter und Ginkgo. PDF file (in German). Thesis, University of Dresden (in German). First part of a reference book of the Tertiary flora of Saxony.
See also here.
Please take notice:
! Starting on PDF page 30: "Kurzer Abriss der tertiärpaläobotanischen Forschung in Sachsen". The history of saxonian tertiary palaeobotany in brief.

D. Edwards (2017, interview): Q & A. Current Biology 27.

D. Edwards (2015): A palaeobotanical pot-pourri. Free access, Palaeontology, 58: 1-3.
"... This study, the third in the series of virtual issues of Palaeontology, examines the contributions the journal has made to the field of palaeobotany from 1961 onwards ..."

! D. Edwards and P. Kenrick (2015): The early evolution of land plants, from fossils to genomics: a commentary on Lang (1937) "On the plant-remains from the Downtonian of England and Wales". Open access, Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B 370.
Note figure 4: Relationships among major groups of land plants showing the hypothesized broad range of clades to which cryptophytes (extinct cryptospore-producing plants) might belong.

K.C. Elliott et al. (2016): Conceptions of Good Science in Our Data-Rich World. In PDF, Bioscience, 66: 880–889. S ee also here.

I.H. Escapa et al. (2019): Integrative Paleobotany: Affirming the Role of Fossils in Modern Plant Biology—Introduction and Dedication. In PDF, Special Issue—Rothwell Celebration, Int. J. Plant Sci., 180: 459–463. 2019. See also here.

D.K. Ferguson (2012): Plant taphonomy: 20 years of death, decay, and dissemules. Abstract, Palaios 27.

W.A. Friedman (2020): Darwin in the garden: Engaging the public about evolution with museum collections of living objects. Open access, Plants, People, Planet, 2: 294–301.
"... Polls continue to show distressingly high percentages of people around the world do not accept that evolution has occurred.
[...] It is time for botanical gardens and arboreta around the world to commit to leveraging their living collections of museum objects to explain and demonstrate the roles of mutation, variation, and selection in the evolutionary process. In doing so, much could be accomplished to increase scientific literacy at a societal level.

W.E. Friedman et al. (2004): The evolution of plant development. Free access, American Journal of Botany 91: 1726-1741.

E.M. Friis et al. (2014): Three-dimensional visualisation of fossil flowers, fruits, seeds and other plant remains Cx: New insights into Cretaceous plant diversity. In PDF, Journal of Paleontology. See also here (abstract).

! E.M. Friis et al. (2013): New Diversity among Chlamydospermous Seeds from the Early Cretaceous of Portugal and North America. Free accesss, International Journal of Plant Sciences, 174: 530–558.
"... The material is based on numerous charcoalified and lignitic specimens recovered from Early Cretaceous mesofossil floras [...]
! Attenuation-based synchrotron-radiation x-ray tomographic microscopy (SRXTM) and phase-contrast x-ray tomographic microscopy (PCXTM) were carried out [...]
! Volume rendering (voltex), which provides transparent reconstructions, was also used for the virtual sections ..."

! M.W. Frohlich & M.W. Chase (2007): After a dozen years of progress the origin of angiosperms is still a great mystery. In PDF, Nature, 450: 1184-1189.
See also here.

R.M. Fyfe et al. (2009): The European Pollen Database: past efforts and current activities. Open access, Veget. Hist. Archaeobot., 18: 417-424.

Carole T. Gee (ed.): Plants in Mesozoic Time: Morphological Innovations, Phylogeny, Ecosystems (Google books). See also here (Amazon).

Peter George (2008): Introduction to Palaeobotany. New Delhi, Rajat Pub., 314 p., ISBN 81-7880-386-9. Book announcement.

! Geotimes, July 2004: Highlights. Discoveries in the Earth Sciences. Go to: Brian Axsmith, Paleobotany. See also:
Fredrick J. Rich and Gordon D. Wood, Palynology.

! Geotimes, July 2003: Highlights. Discoveries in the Earth Sciences. Go to: Fredrick J. Rich and Gordon D. Wood, Palynology.

! Geotimes, July 2002: Highlights. Discoveries in the Earth Sciences. Now Geotimes offer the Highlights section (summaries of research trends and discoveries) in full online. Go to: Melanie Devore and Kathleen Pigg, Paleobotany. See also:
Fredrick J. Rich and Gordon D. Wood, Palynology.

M.A. Gitzendanner et al. (2018): Methods for exploring the plant tree of life. In PDF, Applications in Plant Sciences, 6. See also here. Introduction for the special issue: Methods for Exploring the Plant Tree of Life.

D.R. Greenwood (2007): Fossil angiosperm leaves and climate: from Wolfe and Dilcher to Burnham and Wilf. In PDF, Courier Forsch.-Senckenberg, 258.
The link is to a version archived by the Internet Archive´s Wayback Machine.

M. Grey and Z.V. Finkel (2011): The Joggins Fossil Cliffs UNESCO World Heritage site: a review of recent research. In PDF. Carboniferous forest reconstruction on page 192.

! G. Guignard (2019): Thirty-three years (1986–2019) of fossil plant cuticle studies using transmission electron microscopy: A review. Abstract, Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology, 271. See also here (in PDF).

! C. Haug et al. (2020): Comment on the letter of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology (SVP) dated April 21, 2020 regarding �"Fossils from conflict zones and reproducibility of fossil.based scientific data": the importance of private collections. Open access, PalZ.

Jason Hilton (2010, Annals of Botany 106): Book review (in PDF), An introduction to plant fossils. Cleal CJ, Thomas BA. 2009 (Cambridge University).

S. Horenstein (2012): Paleontology and Evolution in the News. In PDF, Evo. Edu. Outreach, 5: 171-178. PDF page 4: Darwin Specimens Found After 150 Years!

D. Jablonski and N.H. Shubin (2015): The future of the fossil record: Paleontology in the 21st century. In PDF, PNAS, see also here.

! T.P. Jones and Nick P. Rowe (eds.), Google Books (some pages are ommitted): Fossil plants and spores: modern techniques. Published by Geological Society, 1999, 396 pages. Excellent! Click: "Preview the book".

! P.H. Kelley et al. (2013): From paleontology to paleobiology: A half-century of progress in understanding life history. Provided by Google books. GSA Special Papers, 500: 191-232. See also here.

! Hans Kerp, Palaeobotanical Research Group, Münster, Westfälische Wilhelms University, Münster: Some recent palaeobotanical text books. This web page provides a selection of palaeobotanical text books published during the last years. With some helpful comments.
This expired link is available through the Internet Archive´s Wayback Machine.

! W. Kiessling et al. (2010): German Paleontology in the early 21^st century. In PDF, Palaeontologica Electronica, 13.

! Sandra Knapp et al. (2011): Changes to publication requirements made at the XVIII International Botanical Congress in Melbourne: What does e-publication mean for you? In PDF, Taxon, 60: 1498-1501.

A.H. Knoll (2013): Systems Paleobiology. In PDF, Geological Society of America Bulletin, 125. About paleobiology and its important role in understanding how the Earth system works.

Valentin A. Krassilov (1987): Palaeobotany of the mesophyticum: state of the art. In PDF, Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology, 50: 231-254. Provided by the Internet Archive´s Wayback Machine.

! W.J. Kress and L. Penev (2011): Innovative electronic publication in plant systematics: PhytoKeys and the changes to the "Botanical Code" accepted at the XVIII International Botanical Congress in Melbourne. In PDF, PhytoKeys, 6: 1-4.

! M. Krings, C.J. Harper, N.R. Cuneo and G.W. Rothwell (eds., 2018): Transformative Paleobotany Papers to Commemorate the Life and Legacy of Thomas N. Taylor. This book features a broad spectrum of topics analyzing the structure, function and evolution of fossil plants, microorganisms, and organismal interactions in fossil ecosystems. See also here (provided by Google books).

S. Kumar&xnbsp;(2005): Molecular clocks: four decades of evolution. Open access, Nature Reviews Genetics, 6: 654–662.
Don't miss the Timeline: Four decades of molecular clocks.

Z. Kvacek and J. Sakala: Progress in palaeobotanical research in 2006 and 2007 (PDF file).

! V. Lariviere and C.R. Sugimoto (2019): The journal impact factor: A brief history, critique, and discussion of adverse effects. In PDF, Springer handbook of science and technology Indicators, pp 3–24.
See also here.
"... The inflation of the JIF [Journal Impact Factor} and the weakening predictive power is discussed, as well as the adverse effects on the behaviors of individual actors
[...] the JIF will likely remain part of the research ecosystem and as long as journals remain the primary mechanism for diffusing new knowledge, their reputation. ..."

! Michel Laurin (2012): Recent progress in paleontological methods for dating the Tree of Life. In PDF, Frontiers in Genetics, 3.

Reinhold Leinfelder (2009): Palaeontologia Quo Vadis? - Zur Situation und Zukunft der palãontologischen Forschung. PDF file (in German), Berliner paläobiologische Abhandlungen, 10: 229-243.

B.S. Lieberman and J. Kimmig (2018): Museums, paleontology, and a biodiversity science–based approach. In PDF, The Geological Society of America Special Paper, 535. See also here.
"... it is clearly apparent that research involving fossil museum collections data is undergoing a renaissance, and new digital approaches are making it possible to consider longstanding questions of relevance to evolutionary biology ..."

! G.Q. Liu et al. (2022): The Molecular Phylogeny of Land Plants: Progress and Future Prospects. Open access, Diversity, 14 (from the Special Issue Ecology, Evolution and Diversity of Plants).
Note figure 1: Summary of phylogenetic relationships among major clades of land plants.

I. Löbl et al. (2023): The Silent Extinction of Species and Taxonomists—An Appeal to Science Policymakers and Legislators. Free access, Diversity, 15, 1053. https://doi.org/10.3390/d15101053.
"... Our suggestions are
[...] To significantly increase financial support and the number of paid non-term-limited positions in taxonomy in general and particularly in natural history museums
[...] To immediately revive taxonomic research and teaching at universities
[...] To focus digitization efforts on parts of collections
[...] To require natural history museums to focus on collection-based research ..."

X. Ma et al. (2022): Impact of Chinese palaeontology on evolutionary research. Free access, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, B, Biological Sciences, Volume 377.

H. Mallison (2012): Digitizing Methods for Paleontology: Applications, Benefits and Limitations. In PDF, in: A.M.T. Elewa (ed.), Computational Paleontology, pp 7–43.
See also here.

S. Manchester et al. (organizing committee): ADVANCES IN PALEOBOTANY--RECOGNIZING THE CONTRIBUTIONS OF DAVID L. DILCHER AND JACK A. WOLFE ON THE OCCASION OF THEIR 70TH BIRTHDAY. Go to:
! Abstracts Submitted to the Advances in Paleobotany Meeting 2006.
These expired links are now available through the Internet Archive´s Wayback Machine.

R.A. Marks et al. (2021): Representation and participation across 20 years of plant genome sequencing. Open access, Nature Plants, 7: 1571–1578.
"... We show that assembly quality has increased dramatically in recent years, that substantial taxonomic gaps exist ..."
Note figure 1: Changes in land plant genome assembly quality and availability over time. Assembly contiguity by submission date for 798 land plant species with publicly available genome assemblies.

! J.C. McElwain et al. (2024): Functional traits of fossil plants. Open access, New Phytologist.
Note figure 2: Examples of fossil plant functional traits.
Figure 4: A ranked list of paleo-functional traits that can be applied to fossil plants.
"What plant remnants have withstood taphonomic filtering, fragmentation, and alteration in their journey to become part of the fossil record provide unique information on how plants functioned in paleo-ecosystems through their traits. Plant traits are measurable morphological, anatomical, physiological, biochemical, or phenological characteristics
[...] We demonstrate how valuable inferences on paleo-ecosystem processes (pollination biology, herbivory), past nutrient cycles, paleobiogeography, paleo-demography (life history), and Earth system history can be derived through the application of paleo-functional traits to fossil plants ..."

S. McLoughlin and V. Vajda (2022; start on PDF-page 47):
The range of palaeobotanical studies in Sweden and future opportunities for research. In PDF, 11^th European Palaeobotany and Palynology Conference Abstracts, Program and Proceedings, Swedish Museum of Natural History, Stockholm.

S. McLoughlin (2022; start on PDF-page 13): Palaeobotanical collections and facilities at the Swedish Museum of Natural History.
In PDF, 11^th European Palaeobotany and Palynology Conference Abstracts, Program and Proceedings. See also here.

! John McNeill & Nicholas J. Turland (2011): Major changes to the Code of Nomenclature - Melbourne, July 2011. Taxon, 60: 1495-1497.

! James S. Miller et al. (2011): Outcomes of the 2011 Botanical Nomenclature Section at the XVIII International Botanical Congress. In PDF, PhytoKeys, 5: 1-3.

G.J. Morgan (1998): Emile Zuckerkandl, Linus Pauling, and the molecular evolutionary clock, 1959-1965. In PDF, Journal of the History of Biology, 31: 155-178.
See also here.

H. Moshinsky (2021): The Future of Fossils: The Evolution of Paleontological Research in the Modern Age. Free access, Thesis, Western Oregon University

G. Nelson and S. Ellis (2018): The history and impact of digitization and digital data mobilization on biodiversity research. Free access, Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B, 374: 20170391.
See also here.
"... The recent expansion of digital data has placed biodiversity collections on the cusp of big data science, opening multiple pathways for natural history museums ..."

! Y. Nie et al. (2020): Accounting for uncertainty in the evolutionary timescale of green plants through clock-partitioning and fossil calibration strategies. In PDF, Syst. Biol., 69: 1–16. See also here.
! Note figure 5: Time-tree of green plants.
! "... By taking into account various sources of uncertainty, we estimate that crown-group green plants originated in the Paleoproterozoic–Mesoproterozoic (1679.7–1025.6 Ma), crown-group Chlorophyta and Streptophyta originated in the Mesoproterozoic–Neoproterozoic (1480.0–902.9 Ma and 1571.8–940.9 Ma), and crown-group land plants originated in the Ediacaran to middle Ordovician (559.3– 459.9 Ma). ..."

D.R. Oldroyd (ed.), 2002: The Earth Inside and Out: Some Major Contributions to Geology in the Twentieth Century. In PDF, Geological Society Special Publication 192.
Table of contents on PDF page 6. See especially:
! PDF page 280, W.A.S. Sarjeant: "As chimney-sweepers, come to dust": a history of palynology to 1970.
! PDF page 248, E. Seibold and I Seibold: Sedimentology: from single grains to recent and past environments: some trends in sedimentology in the twentieth century.
! PDF page 336, S.J. Knell: Collecting, conservation and conservatism: late twentieth century developments in the culture of British geology.

! Oxford Bibliographies.
Oxford Bibliographies offers exclusive, authoritative research guides. Combining the best features of an annotated bibliography and a high-level encyclopedia, this cutting-edge resource directs researchers to the best available scholarship across a wide variety of subjects. Go to:
Fossils (by Kevin Boyce).
Evolution of Land Plants (by Charles C. Davis and Sarah Mathews).
Evolution of Fungi (by David Hibbett).
Bryophyte Ecology (by Heinjo During).

Paläontologische Gesellschaft (in German).
AK Paläobotanik / Palynologie.
See also: Paläontologische Gesellschaft. Old website, saved by the Internet Archive´s Wayback Machine (2010): Ehrenmitglieder, Auszeichnungen und Medaillien. With some laudations (in PDF).

! Paleontology in the 21st Century (An International Senckenberg Conference and Workshop): Reports and Recommendations. In early September 1997, 108 paleontologists and allied individuals from 30 countries met at Senckenberg Museum, Frankfurt, Germany. The purpose of the Senckenberg workshop was to initiate and nurture a dialogue concerning the future of palaeontology.
Website now saved by the Internet Archive´s Wayback Machine.

J.F. Parham et al. (2012): Best Practices for Justifying Fossil Calibrations. In PDF, Syst Biol., 61: 346-359. See also here (abstract).

Progress in Botany (Springer). See also here.

S.S. Renner (2022): Plant Evolution and Systematics 1982–2022: Changing Questions and Methods as Seen by a Participant. In PDF, Progress in Botany.
See also here.
"... With DNA data came lab work, bioinformatics, and both the need and the possibility to collaborate, which brought systematists out of their niche, gave comparative biology a huge push, and resulted in a better integration of biodiversity studies within biology. ..."

G.J. Retallack (2021): Great moments in plant evolution. In PDF, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS), 118. See also here.

O. Rösler (1978): Advances in Palaeobotany and Allied Sciences in Brazil. PDF file.

G.W. Rothwell et al. (2018): Tree of death: The role of fossils in resolving the overall pattern of plant phylogeny. Free access, American Journal of Botany, 105: 1–4. See also here and there.

G.W. Rothwell and R.A. Stockey (2013): Conceptual Advances in Fossil Plant Biology: Introduction and Dedication. International Journal of Plant Sciences, 174, Special Issue. See also here (table of contents).

D.L. Royer (2012): Climate reconstruction from leaf size and shape: New developments and challenges. PDF file, in: Reconstructing Earth´s Deep-Time Climate - The State of the Art in 2012, Paleontological Society Short Course, The Paleontological Society Papers, Volume 18, Linda C. Ivany and Brian T. Huber (eds.), pp. 195-212.

A. Salt (2018): Plants and Fungi: An ancient partnership. Botany One.

G. Saravanan and J. Dominic (2014): A ten-year bibliometric analysis of the journal Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology (2003-2012). In PDF, Library Philosophy & Practice.

Save NHM Micropalaeontology. This website is created as a focus for protest against the proposed closure of the Natural History Museum´s Micropalaeontology Research Group. Sign the petition.

! A.C. Scott (2024): Thirty Years of Progress in Our Understanding of the Nature and Influence of Fire in Carboniferous Ecosystems. In PDF, Fire, 7. 248. https://doi.org/10.3390/fire7070248.
See here as well.
Note figure 7: The interpretation of the Viséan East Kirkton environment highlighting the role of wildfire.
"... One of the basic problems was the fact that charcoal-like wood fragments, so often found in sedimentary rocks and in coals, were termed fusain and, in addition, many researchers could not envision wildfires in peat-forming systems. The advent of Scanning Electron Microscopy and studies on modern charcoals and fossil fusains demonstrated beyond doubt that wildfire residues may be recognized in rocks dating back to at least 350 million years ..."

! A.C. Scott (1998): The legacy of Charles Lyell: advances in our knowledge of coal and coal-bearing strata. In PDF, Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 143: 243-260. See also here.

! A.W.R. Seddon et al. (2014): Looking forward through the past: identification of 50 priority research questions in palaeoecology. In PDF, Journal of Ecology, 102: 256-267. See also here.

M.-A. Selosse et al. (2015): Plants, fungi and oomycetes: a 400-million year affair that shapes the biosphere. New Phytologist. 10th New Phytologist Workshop on the "Origin and evolution of plants and their interactions with fungi", London, UK, September 2014.

D. Sepkoski (2009): The Emergence of Paleobiology. In PDF, In: Sepkoski, D. and Ruse, M. (eds.): The Paleobiological Revolution: Essays on the Growth of Modern Paleontology (University of Chicago Press).
See also here (Google books).

D. Sepkoski and M. Ruse (2009): Introduction: Paleontology at the High Table. In PDF, starting on PDF-page 14. In: Sepkoski, D. and Ruse, M. (eds.): The Paleobiological Revolution: Essays on the Growth of Modern Paleontology (University of Chicago Press). See also here.

T. Servais et al. (2012): Paleontology in France: 200 years in the footsteps of Cuvier and Lamarck. Palaeontologia Electronica, 15. See also here (in PDF).

T. Servais et al. (2012): Paleontology in France: 200 years in the footsteps of Cuvier and Lamarck, In PDF, Coquina Press, 15. See also here.

Mukund Sharma (2002): Palaeontology in India at crossroads. PDF file, CURRENT SCIENCE, VOL. 83.
H.M. Kapoor and H.K. Maheshwari (2002): Palaeontology in India at cross roads: a comment. PDF file, CURRENT SCIENCE, VOL. 83.

! S.H. Shiu and M.D. Lehti-Shiu (2024): Assessing the evolution of research topics in a biological field using plant science as an example. In PDF, SH Shiu, MD Lehti-Shiu Plos Biology, 22. e3002612. https://doi.org/ 10.1371/journal.pbio.3002612.
See likewise here.
"... Using plant biology as an example, we used machine learning and language models to classify plant science citations into topics representing interconnected, evolving subfields. The changes in prevalence of topical records over the last 50 years reflect shifts in major research trends
[...] Unlike other early topics, topic 78 (paleobotany and plant evolution studies, the last topic in Fig 3B) experienced a resurgence in the early 2000s due to the development of new approaches and databases and changes in research foci ..."

D.E. Soltis et al. (2018): Using and navigating the plant tree of life. In PDF, American Journal of Botany, 105: 287–290. See also here.

A.K. Srivastava (2008): New trends in Gondwana palaeobotany. In PDF, Earth Science India.

M. Stech et al. (2021): Advances and challenges in bryophyte biology after 50 years of International Association of Bryologists. Free access, Bryophyte Diversity and Evolution, 43: 006–009.
See also here.

R.A. Stockey et al. (2009): Introduction to the Darwin special issue: The abominable mystery. Free access, American Journal of Botany, 96: 3-4.

C. Strullu-Derrien et al. (2023): Insights into palaeobotany. Abstract, Botany Letters, DOI: 10.1080/23818107.2023.2200293
Note figure 1: Reconstruction of the Eocene flora from Anjou.

D. Su et al. (2022): Large-scale phylogenomic analyses reveal the monophyly of bryophytes and neoproterozoic origin of land plants Open access, Molecular Biology and Evolution, 38: 3332–3344.
! Note figure 1: The concatenation species tree of land plants and their algal relatives.
! Figure 2: The coalescent species tree of land plants and their algal relatives.
"... We found that studies favoring a Neoproterozoic origin of land plants (980–682 Ma) are informed more by molecular data whereas those favoring a Phanerozoic origin (518–500 Ma) are informed more by fossil constraints. Our divergence time analyses highlighted the important contribution of the molecular data (time-dependent molecular change) when faced with contentious fossil evidence.
[..] A careful integration of fossil and molecular evidence will revolutionize our understanding of how land plants evolved.

M. Tamborini (2022): A Plea for a New Synthesis: From Twentieth-Century Paleobiology to Twenty-First-Century Paleontology and Back Again. Free access, Biology, 11: https://doi.org/10.3390/biology11081120.

! Thomas N. Taylor, Edith L. Taylor, Michael Krings: "Paleobotany: The Biology and Evolution of Fossil Plants". 2nd ed., 1252 pages, Academic Press 2009, Amsterdam. A cornerstone of modern palaeobotany!
See also here (snapshot provided by the Internet Archive´s Wayback Machine).
Please take notice: Amazon customer reviews: "A superlative encyclopedic treatise on paleobotany", or: "... one of the best paleobotany references ever produced".
See also here (Amazon, in German). See especially:
! T.N. Taylor et al. (2009): Paleobotany: the biology and evolution of fossil plants. Google books, limited view, with table of contents.

Thomas N. Taylor and Edith L. Smoot (1984): Paleobotany (Benchmark Papers in Systematic and Evolutionary Biology). Citation by Woldcat.
"Benchmark papers in systematic and evolutionary biology, 7", published by Van Nostrand Reinhold, Scientific and Academic Editions, New York.
See also here (book announcement by Amazon).

! B.H. Tiffney (1988): Conceptual advances in paleobotany. In PDF, Journal of Geological Education: September 1988, Vol. 36, No. 4, pp. 221-226. See also here.

A.M.F. Tomescu (2016): Development: Paleobotany at the High Table of Evo-Devo. Free access, Current Biology, 26: R505-R508.

V. Vajda and C.B. Skovsted (2021): Advances in Swedish palaeontology; the importance of fossils in natural history collections - The Department of Palaeobiology at the Swedish Museum of Natural History. In PDF, GFF, 143: 93-10; DOI: 10.1080/11035897.2021.1968198. See also here.

S. Voigt et al. (2020): Report on the activities of the Late Carboniferous–Permian–Early Triassic Nonmarine-Marine Correlation Working Group for 2018 and 2019, In PDF, Permophiles, 68.

X. Wang (ed., 2022): Special Issue "Recent Advances in Palaeobotany". Open access. Biology.

! X. Wang (2017): A Biased, Misleading Review on Early Angiosperms. In PDF, Natural Science, 9: 399-405.
Please note: P.S. Herendeen et al. (2017): Palaeobotanical redux: revisiting the age of the angiosperms. In PDF, Nature Plants 3. See also here.

Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:
Category:2019 in science.
List of years in paleontology.
Category:2010s in paleontology.

These paleobotany lists record new fossil plant taxa:
! 2015 in paleobotany.
! 2016 in paleobotany
! 2017 in paleobotany.
! 2018 in paleobotany.
! 2019 in paleobotany.
! 2020 in paleobotany
! 2021 in paleobotany
! 2022 in paleobotany
! 2023 in paleobotany

Ewan Wolff, Montana State University Geoscience Education Web Development Team: Advances in Paleontology.
Still available through the Internet Archive´s Wayback Machine.

S. Xiao et al. (2010): A golden age of paleontology in China? A SWOT Analysis. In PDF, Palaeontologica Electronica, 13.

Xing Xu et al. (2010): Recent advances in Chinese palaeontology. PDF file, Proc. R. Soc., B, 277: 161-164. See also here.

T. Yamada and H. Nishida (2014): Palaeobotany: Old but new stories on plant diversity. In PDF.

! C. Yu et al. (2024): Artificial intelligence in paleontology. Open access, Earth-Science Reviews, 252.
"... The accumulation of large datasets and increasing data availability have led to the emergence of data-driven paleontological studies, which reveal an unprecedented picture of evolutionary history
[...] studies feature a wide range of techniques such as Knowledge-Based Systems (KBS), neural networks, transfer learning, and many other machine learning methods to automate a variety of paleontological research workflows ..."

! Z. Zhan et al. (2022): Origin and evolution of green plants in the light of key evolutionary events. Free access, Journal of Integrative Plant Biology, 64: 516–535.

J. Zhang et al. (2023): Editorial: Frontiers in the study of ancient plant remains. In PDF, Front. Plant Sci., 14: 1177435. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2023.1177435.

Z. Zhou (2022): The Rising of Paleontology in China: A Century-Long Road. Free access, Biology, 11.