INTRODUCTION

In the Cenozoic, the modernization and continued diversification of flowering plants (Figs. 16.1 and 16.2) was one of the major controls on global change in land biomes. Therefore, it is necessary to understand how this group of plants differed from those which had dominated previous vegetation and hence the impacts which these differences might have had on community evolution and on our ability to relate this to physical global change. In addition, if the evolution of modern vegetation is to be considered, it is necessary to establish how the record of plant fossils can be used to reconstruct ancient communities and to compare them with those existing today.

This chapter considers the nature and application of the plant fossil record, reviews the plant groups which typify latest Cretaceous and Cenozoic floras, addresses the significance of flowering plants and documents the changing distributions of selected dominant plants in response to global change through the Cenozoic. An interpretation of plant communities and their response to global change uses examples of reconstructed communities at their maximum poleward extent during the Eocene thermal maximum. Patterns of community change and species diversity are documented through the Cenozoic.

NATURE AND APPLICATION OF THE PLANT FOSSIL RECORD

Partially complete ‘whole’ plants can be reconstructed from plant fossils.