Life in the Carboniferous Coal Swamp Forests: Reconstructing the Paleoecophysiology of the Extinct Horsetail Sphenophyllum
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2024
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Bi-College (Haverford and Bryn Mawr Colleges). Department of Environmental Studies
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eng
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Dark archive until 01/01/2029. Afterwards Tri-College users only
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Abstract
During the Carboniferous Period, there was a radiation of diversity in early plants that were well preserved for study due to the conditions of the Carboniferous coal swamp forests. Studying the coal balls gives scientists insight into the ecosystems of the past. Collaborations with paleoclimate scientists have allowed paleobotanists to line up flora abundances with climatic trends. During the Middle and Late Pennsylvanian period, there were five major intervals of climatic shifts from wet to dry ecosystems and, by the second dry interval at the Late Westphalian D early Stephanian, major plant extinctions took place as the swamp biomes became drier. This paper aims to give context into the species that inhabited the coal swamps and how the ecosystem shifted throughout the period. On a plant scale level, this paper also aims to examine the morphological properties of these Carboniferous plants that particularly make them vulnerable or resistant to the reductions in water availability. This targeted morphological research focuses on a specific understory horsetail genus Sphenophyllum. Sphenophyllum is a particularly unique plant due to its large, wide tracheids and density of bordered pits throughout the xylem making the plant extremely hydraulically conductive while also prone to cavitation. In understanding these plants on a community scale and also an individual morphological scale, we can begin to better understand the past ecosystems and predict how certain plants will respond to climate change in the present and future.