Evidence for a floristically diverse rainforest on the Falkland archipelago in the remote South Atlantic during the mid- to late Cenozoic

Thomas, Zoë A.; Macphail, Michael; Cadd, Haidee; Cantrill, David J.; Hutchinson, David K.; Haines, Heather A.; Privat, Karen; Turney, Chris; Carter, Stefanie ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7713-876X; Brickle, Paul. 2024 Evidence for a floristically diverse rainforest on the Falkland archipelago in the remote South Atlantic during the mid- to late Cenozoic. Antarctic Science. 20, pp. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0954102024000129

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Abstract/Summary

We report the discovery of an ancient forest bed near Stanley, on the Falkland Islands, the second such ancient deposit identified on the South Atlantic island archipelago that is today marked by the absence of native tree species. Fossil pollen, spores and wood fragments preserved in this buried deposit at Tussac House show that the source vegetation was characterized by a floristically diverse rainforest dominated by Nothofagus-Podocarpaceae communities, similar to cool temperate Nothofagus forests/woodlands and Magellanic evergreen Nothofagus rainforests. The age limit of the deposit is inferred from the stratigraphic distribution of fossil pollen species transported by wind, birds or ocean currents from southern Patagonia, as well as similar vegetation types observed across the broader region. The deposit is suggested to be between Late Oligocene and Early Miocene, making it slightly older than the previously analysed Neogene West Point Island forest bed (200 km west of Tussac House). The combined evidence adds to our current knowledge of the role of climate change and transoceanic dispersal of plant propagules in shaping high-latitude ecosystems in the Southern Hemisphere during the late Palaeogene and Neogene.

Item Type:	Publication - Article
Digital Object Identifier (DOI):	https://doi.org/10.1017/S0954102024000129
UKCEH and CEH Sections/Science Areas:	Soils and Land Use (Science Area 2017-)
ISSN:	0954-1020
Additional Information. Not used in RCUK Gateway to Research.:	Open Access paper - full text available via Official URL link.
Additional Keywords:	biodiversity, forest bed, fossil pollen, lignite deposit, Miocene, Neogene, Oligocene, Palaeogene
NORA Subject Terms:	Ecology and Environment
Related URLs:	Dataset Dataset
Date made live:	13 Sep 2024 09:57 +0 (UTC)
URI:	https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/538017

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