Links for Palaeobotanists 1

An annotated collection of pointers to information on palaeobotany
or to WWW resources which may be of use to palaeobotanists (with an Upper Triassic bias).

! M. Yaqoob et al. (2025): Advancing paleontology: a survey on deep learning methodologies in fossil image analysis. In PDF, Artificial Intelligence Review, 58. See also here.
Note Figure 9: Chronological overview of DL applications in fossil image analysis from 2017 to 2024.
"... key fossil image processing and analysis tasks, such as segmentation and classification, still require significant user intervention, which can be labor-intensive and subject to human bias. Recent advances in deep learning offer the potential to automate fossil image analysis, improving throughput and limiting operator bias
[...] we discuss novel techniques for fossil data augmentation and fossil image enhancements, which can be combined with advanced neural network architectures ..."

S. Ramírez-Barahona (2024): Incorporating fossils into the joint inference of phylogeny and biogeography of the tree fern order Cyatheales. Free access, Evolution, 78: 919�933.
"...By combining paleontological and neontological distribution data for Cyatheales, I inferred a more complex biogeographical history than previously depicted based on the distribution of extant species alone
[...] I use data for 101 fossil and 442 extant tree ferns to reconstruct the biogeographic history of the group over the last 220 million years
[...] The fossil record is not without temporal, geographic, and phylogenetic bias, yet fossils alone hold information about past distributions ..."

J.L. García Massini et al. 2025: Jurassic Osmundaceous Landscapes in Patagonia: Exploring the Concept of Ecological Stasis in the Deseado Massif, Argentina. Open access, Plants, 14, 165; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants14020165.
"... we report the presence of a plant paleocommunity, dominated by ferns of the family Osmundaceae
[...] These compositional, paleoenvironmental, and trophic characteristics of the Jurassic Osmundaceae suggest a possible case of ecological stasis, where Osmundaceae-dominated plant communities apparently persisted in swamps of comparable structures, functions ..."

! J. Jehlicka et al. (2024): Microbial colonization of gypsum: from the fossil record to the present day. Open access, Frontiers in Microbiology, 15.
"... Gypsum colonized by microorganisms, including cyanobacteria, eukaryotic algae, and diverse heterotrophic communities, occurs in hot, arid or even hyperarid environments, in cold environments of the Antarctic and Arctic zones, and in saline and hypersaline lakes and ponds where gypsum precipitates
[...] We here review the worldwide occurrences of microbially colonized gypsum and the specific properties of gypsum related to its function as a substrate and habitat ..."

! M. Steinthorsdottir et al. (2025): Phanerozoic atmospheric CO₂ reconstructed with proxies and models: Current understanding and future directions. In PDF, Treatise on Geochemistry (Third Edition), 5: 467-492.
Note figure 3: Phanerozoic compilation of paleo-atmospheric CO₂ estimates with initial vetting of data.
Figure 4: The Atmosphere-Ocean-Sediment carbon cycle.
"... This review addresses the terrestrial and marine proxies used to estimate paleo-CO₂ concentrations and how the biological and/or geochemical properties of each proxy encodes the ambient CO₂ signal
[...] The review concludes by addressing next steps in advancing the science of CO₂ reconstruction and for improving our understanding of the evolution of atmospheric CO₂ over the past half-billion years ..."

! N.K. Dhami et al. (2023): Microbially mediated fossil concretions and their characterization by the latest methodologies: a review. Free access, Front. Microbiol. 14: 1225411. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2023.1225411.
Note figure 1: The three broad modes of fossilization.
Figure 5: Schematic of photic zone euxinia conditions, calcium carbonate concretion formation and in-situ fossilization, demonstrating the complex eogenetic (water column) and diagenetic (sediment/water interface) processes which can be interpreted from molecular biomarkers.
Figure 6: Visual representation of the factors involved in formation of iron carbonate concretions in freshwater influenced environments.
! Figure 7: Flow diagram for analytical methods applicable to microbial fossil concretions, modern and ancient.
! Table 2: Brief summary of the various analytical techniques applicable to concretion analysis, as discussed in this review.
"... we provide a comprehensive account of organic geochemical, and complimentary inorganic geochemical, morphological, microbial and paleontological, analytical methods, including recent advancements, relevant to the characterization of concretions and sequestered OM [organic matter] ..."

A.J. Hetherington (2024): The role of fossils for reconstructing the evolution of plant development. Free access, The Company of Biologists, 151.
Note figure 1: Fossils indicate that roots and leaves evolved independently in vascular plants.
"... The focus of this Spotlight is to showcase the rich plant fossil record open for developmental interpretation and to cement the role that fossils play at a time when increases in genome sequencing and new model species make tackling major questions in the area of plant evolution and development tractable for the first time ..."

B. Palmer et al. (2024): Decay experiments and microbial community analysis of water lily leaf biofilms: Sediment effects on leaf preservation potential. Open access, PloS one, 19. e0315656. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0315656
"... a series of decay experiments was carried out for three months on Nymphaea water lily leaves in aquariums
[...] Our study bridges the information gap between biofilms observed on modern leaves and the mineral encrustation on fossil leaves by analyzing the microbial response in biofilms to substrate types ..."

E.M. Bordy et al. (2024): Selected Karoo geoheritage sites of palaeontological significance in South Africa and Lesotho. Open access, Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 543: 431-446. See likewise here.
Note figure 3c: Palaeo-art mural of a late Permian scene (artwork by Gerhard Marx).
Figure 9f: Reconstruction of the Early Jurassic dinosaur-dominated ecosystem of southern Gondwana.

Museum of Comparative Zoology (MCZ), Harvard Univerity: Introduction to the Sedimentary Processes and Structures of the Trenton Group:
Sedimentary Processes.
Provided by the Internet Archive´s Wayback Machine.

Michael E. Mann, Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Virginia: Insights into Climate Dynamics from Paleoclimate Data. Powerpoint presentation.
Still available via Internet Archive Wayback Machine.

M.J. Benton (2023): Palaeobiology: Rapid succession during mass extinction. Open access, Current Biology, 33.
Note figure 1: The latest Permian Vyatkian fauna from Russia ((artwork: John Sibbick).
Figure 2: Diversity dynamics of tetrapods through the latest Permian and earliest Triassic of the Karoo basin, South Africa.

Geologica Acta .
Geologica Acta is a non-profit general Earth Science Journal providing an innovative and high-quality means of scientific dissemination.

! S. Karacic et al. (2024): Oxygen-dependent biofilm dynamics in leaf decay: an in vitro analysis. Open access, Scientific Reports, 14.
See also here.
"... we used 16S rRNA and ITS gene amplicon sequencing to investigate the composition, temporal dynamics, and community assembly processes of bacterial and fungal biofilms on decaying leaves in vitro
[...] community composition differed significantly between biofilm samples under aerobic and anaerobic conditions, though not among plant species
[...] Oxygen availability and incubation time were found to be primary factors influencing the microbial diversity of biofilms on different decaying plant species in vitro ..."

C.C. Labandeira and R. Cenci (2024): Workshop: Insect-Plant Interaction Notes. In PDF, Conference: Ichnia 2024 - The 5^th International Congress on Ichnology, Florianópolis, Brazil.
! Note figure 1: The functional feeding group�damage type (FFG-DT) system for documenting and analyzing herbivory in the fossil record.

! E.J. Judd et al. (2024): A 485-million-year history of Earth's surface temperature. In PDF, Science, 385.
See here as well.
"... PhanDA [a state-of-the-art reconstruction of GMST spanning the last 485 million years of Earth history] provides a statistically robust estimate of GMST [global mean surface temperature] through the Phanerozoic.
[...] We find that Earth�s temperature has varied more dynamically than previously thought and that greenhouse climates were very warm. CO₂ is the dominant driver of Phanerozoic climate, emphasizing the importance of this greenhouse gas in shaping Earth history
[...] PhanDA exhibits a large range of GMST, spanning 11° to 36°C. ..."

E.J. Edwards et al. (2024): University herbaria are uniquely important. In PDF, Trends in Plant Science, 29.
See here as well.
"... University herbaria play critical roles in biodiversity research and training
[...] Universities have a responsibility to steward these important collections in perpetuity, in alignment with their academic missions and for the good of science and society ..."

J. Lies and R. Rößler (2024): Der Hornstein von Priefel - Ein Fossilvorkommen aus dem Perm bei Altenburg. PDF file, in German. Veröffentlichungen Museum für Naturkunde Chemnitz, 47: 15-58.
Note figure 4: Historic reconstruction of the Carboniferous vegetation (by Joseph Kuwassegs, 1850).