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Dong J, Li Z, Gao J, Wang Q, Sun B. A New Fossil Species of Nothotsuga from the Mula Basin, Litang County, Sichuan Province and Its Paleoclimate and Paleoecology Significance. BIOLOGY 2022; 12:biology12010046. [PMID: 36671738 PMCID: PMC9855038 DOI: 10.3390/biology12010046] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/21/2022] [Revised: 12/20/2022] [Accepted: 12/21/2022] [Indexed: 12/28/2022]
Abstract
In this paper, we describe a new fossil species, Nothotsuga mulaensis Z. Li & J.L. Dong sp. nov. The discovery of the fossil species was based on well-preserved fossil seed cones that were found in the Mula Basin in Xiamula village, Litang County, Sichuan Province, southwestern China. The shapes of these fossils were characterized by ovate seed cones, rhombic or suborbicular scales with auriculate bases, and the bracts were ligulate-spathulate in shape. This finding suggests that Nothotsuga once had a wide distribution range in China and that it also inhabited the eastern Tibetan Plateau (TP). Nothotsuga mulaensis was distributed in an intermountain lake basin, at altitudes from 2000 to 2300 m, in a warm and humid environment. This finding also suggests that the eastern TP may have provided good habitat for Nothotsuga during the Miocene. In addition, we propose that the uplift, accompanied by the severe cooling and aridification that occurred after the Miocene, caused the disappearance of this species of Nothotsuga in the eastern TP.
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Affiliation(s)
- Junling Dong
- State Key Laboratory of Oil and Gas Reservoir Geology and Exploitation, Institute of Sedimentary Geology, Chengdu University of Technology, Chengdu 610059, China
- Correspondence:
| | - Zhe Li
- State Key Laboratory of Oil and Gas Reservoir Geology and Exploitation, Institute of Sedimentary Geology, Chengdu University of Technology, Chengdu 610059, China
| | - Jingxin Gao
- State Key Laboratory of Oil and Gas Reservoir Geology and Exploitation, Institute of Sedimentary Geology, Chengdu University of Technology, Chengdu 610059, China
| | - Qian Wang
- State Key Laboratory of Oil and Gas Reservoir Geology and Exploitation, Institute of Sedimentary Geology, Chengdu University of Technology, Chengdu 610059, China
| | - Bainian Sun
- School of Earth Sciences and Key Laboratory of Mineral Resources in Western China (Gansu Province), Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China
- State Key Laboratory of Paleobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Paleontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, China
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Li SF, Valdes PJ, Farnsworth A, Davies-Barnard T, Su T, Lunt DJ, Spicer RA, Liu J, Deng WYD, Huang J, Tang H, Ridgwell A, Chen LL, Zhou ZK. Orographic evolution of northern Tibet shaped vegetation and plant diversity in eastern Asia. SCIENCE ADVANCES 2021; 7:eabc7741. [PMID: 33571113 PMCID: PMC7840128 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abc7741] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/31/2020] [Accepted: 12/04/2020] [Indexed: 05/09/2023]
Abstract
The growth of the Tibetan Plateau throughout the past 66 million years has profoundly affected the Asian climate, but how this unparalleled orogenesis might have driven vegetation and plant diversity changes in eastern Asia is poorly understood. We approach this question by integrating modeling results and fossil data. We show that growth of north and northeastern Tibet affects vegetation and, crucially, plant diversity in eastern Asia by altering the monsoon system. This northern Tibetan orographic change induces a precipitation increase, especially in the dry (winter) season, resulting in a transition from deciduous broadleaf vegetation to evergreen broadleaf vegetation and plant diversity increases across southeastern Asia. Further quantifying the complexity of Tibetan orographic change is critical for understanding the finer details of Asian vegetation and plant diversity evolution.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shu-Feng Li
- CAS Key Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Mengla 666303, China.
- Center of Plant Ecology, Core Botanical Gardens, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Mengla 666303, China
- School of Geographical Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
| | - Paul J Valdes
- School of Geographical Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
| | - Alex Farnsworth
- School of Geographical Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
| | - T Davies-Barnard
- School of Geographical Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
- College of Engineering, Maths, and Physical Sciences, University of Exeter, Exeter, UK
- Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry, Jena, Germany
| | - Tao Su
- CAS Key Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Mengla 666303, China
- Center of Plant Ecology, Core Botanical Gardens, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Mengla 666303, China
| | - Daniel J Lunt
- School of Geographical Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
| | - Robert A Spicer
- CAS Key Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Mengla 666303, China
- School of Environment, Earth and Ecosystem Sciences, The Open University, Milton Keynes, MK7 6AA, UK
| | - Jia Liu
- CAS Key Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Mengla 666303, China
| | - Wei-Yu-Dong Deng
- CAS Key Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Mengla 666303, China
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
| | - Jian Huang
- CAS Key Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Mengla 666303, China
| | - He Tang
- CAS Key Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Mengla 666303, China
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
| | - Andy Ridgwell
- School of Geographical Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
- Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of California, Riverside, CA 92521, USA
| | - Lin-Lin Chen
- CAS Key Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Mengla 666303, China
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
| | - Zhe-Kun Zhou
- CAS Key Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Mengla 666303, China.
- Key Laboratory of Biogeography and Biodiversity, Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming 650204, China
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Huang Y, Jia L, Wang Q, Mosbrugger V, Utescher T, Su T, Zhou Z. Cenozoic plant diversity of Yunnan: A review. PLANT DIVERSITY 2016; 38:271-282. [PMID: 30159478 PMCID: PMC6112251 DOI: 10.1016/j.pld.2016.11.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/10/2016] [Revised: 11/18/2016] [Accepted: 11/21/2016] [Indexed: 05/22/2023]
Abstract
Yunnan in southwestern China is renowned for its high plant diversity. To understand how this modern botanical richness formed, it is critical to investigate the past biodiversity throughout the geological time. In this review, we present a summary on plant diversity, floristics and climates in the Cenozoic of Yunnan and document their changes, by compiling published palaeobotanical sources. Our review demonstrates that thus far a total of 386 fossil species of ferns, gymnosperms and angiosperms belonging to 170 genera within 66 families have been reported from the Cenozoic, particularly the Neogene, of Yunnan. Angiosperms display the highest richness represented by 353 species grouped into 155 genera within 60 families, with Fagaceae, Fabaceae, Lauraceae and Juglandaceae being the most diversified. Most of the families and genera recorded as fossils still occur in Yunnan, but seven genera have disappeared, including Berryophyllum, Cedrelospermum, Cedrus, Palaeocarya, Podocarpium, Sequoia and Wataria. The regional extinction of these genera is commonly referred to an aridification of the dry season associated with Asian monsoon development. Floristic analyses indicate that in the late Miocene, Yunnan had three floristic regions: a northern subtropical floristic region in the northeast, a subtropical floristic region in the east, and a tropical floristic region in the southwest. In the late Pliocene, Yunnan saw two kinds of floristic regions: a subalpine floristic region in the northwest, and two subtropical floristic regions separately in the southwest and the eastern center. These floristic concepts are verified by results from our areal type analyses which suggest that in the Miocene southwestern Yunnan supported the most Pantropic elements, while in the Pliocene southwestern Yunnan had abundant Tropical Asia (Indo-Malaysia) type and East Asia and North America disjunct type that were absent from northwestern Yunnan. From the late Miocene to late Pliocene through to the present, floristic composition and vegetation types changed markedly, presumably in response to altitude changes and coeval global cooling. An integration of palaeoclimate data suggests that during the Neogene Yunnan was warmer and wetter than today. Moreover, northern Yunnan witnessed a pronounced temperature decline, while southern Yunnan experienced only moderate temperature changes. Summer precipitation was consistently higher than winter precipitation, suggesting a rainfall seasonality. This summary on palaeoclimates helps us to understand under what conditions plant diversity occurred and evolved in Yunnan throughout the Cenozoic.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yongjiang Huang
- Key Laboratory for Plant Diversity and Biogeography of East Asia, Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming 650201, China
- State Key Laboratory of Paleobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Paleontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, China
| | - Linbo Jia
- Key Laboratory for Plant Diversity and Biogeography of East Asia, Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming 650201, China
- Graduate University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
| | - Qiong Wang
- Key Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Mengla 666303, China
| | - Volker Mosbrugger
- Senckenberg Research Institute/BiK F (Loewe), Senckenberganlage 25, 60325 Frankfurt am Main, Germany
| | - Torsten Utescher
- Senckenberg Research Institute/BiK F (Loewe), Senckenberganlage 25, 60325 Frankfurt am Main, Germany
- Steinmann Institute, University of Bonn, Nussallee 8, 53115 Bonn, Germany
| | - Tao Su
- Key Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Mengla 666303, China
- State Key Laboratory of Paleobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Paleontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, China
| | - Zhekun Zhou
- Key Laboratory for Plant Diversity and Biogeography of East Asia, Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming 650201, China
- Key Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Mengla 666303, China
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