Mesozoic mass extinctions and angiosperm radiation: does the molecular clock tell something new?
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Date
2012
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Wydawnictwo Naukowe UAM
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Abstract
Angiosperms evolved rapidly in the late Mesozoic. Data from the genetic-based approach called ’molecular clock’
permit an evaluation of the radiation of flowering plants through geological time and of the possible influences of Me -sozoic mass extinctions. A total of 261 divergence ages of angiosperm families are considered. The radiation of flowe -ring plants peaked in the Albian, early Campanian, and Maastrichtian. From the three late Mesozoic mass extinctions
(Jurassic/Cretaceous, Cenomanian/Turonian, and Cretaceous/Palaeogene), only the Cretaceous/Palaeogene event
coincided with a significant, abrupt, and long-term decline in angiosperm radiation. If their link will be further pro -ven, this means that global-scale environmental perturbation precluded from many innovations in the development of
plants. This decline was, however, not unprecedented in the history of the angiosperms. The implication of data from
the molecular clock for evolutionary reconstructions is limited, primarily because this approach deals with only extant
lineages.
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Keywords
Angiosperms, Radiation, Mass extinction, Molecular clock, Mesozoic
Citation
Geologos 18, 1 (2012): 37–42
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ISSN
1426-8981