Palaeoecology and palaeophytogeography of the Rhynie chert plants: further evidence from integrated analysis of in situ and dispersed spores.

ABSTRACT: The remarkably preserved Rhynie chert plants remain pivotal to our understanding of early land plants. The extraordinary anatomical detail they preserve is a consequence of exceptional preservation, by silicification, in the hot-springs environment they inhabited. However, this has prompted questions as to just how typical of early land plants the Rhynie chert plants really are. Some have suggested that they were highly adapted to the unusual hot-springs environment and are unrepresentative of 'normal' plants of the regional flora. New quantitative analysis of dispersed spore assemblages from the stratigraphical sequence of the Rhynie outlier, coupled with characterization of the in situ spores of the Rhynie chert plants, permits investigation of their palaeoecology and palaeophytogeograph

SUBMITTER: Wellman CH 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5745327 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature