Climate change and the evolution of high-latitude terrestrial vegetation and floras

Our understanding of polar vegetation and climate through time has expanded enormously in the past five years as a consequence of improved logistics, detailed studies of plant fossils in their proper sedimentological context, and the development of sophisticated physiognomic methods for extracting the climate signal present in plant fossil assemblages. These revelations are particularly timely in that climate change is most strongly expressed at the poles, and polar conditions play a critical role in determining global climate. By studying the evolution and change in polar vegetation, valuable insights on possible future biotic responses to global warming can be obtained.