The rise of angiosperms pushed conifers to decline during global cooling
Abstract
Competition for common resources can make some species groups thrive and others decline. Flowering plants rose to dominance between 125 and 80 Ma, undergoing an explosive radiation that is believed to have impacted long-established plant groups like gymnosperms. Here, we show that the decline of conifers is strongly and directly linked to the increasing diversity of flowering plants. Both the fossil record and molecular data converge in clarifying the effects of abiotic or biotic factors on the speciation and extinction rates of conifers. These results imply that long-term biological interactions through clade competition can play a more important role in the rise and demise of major organism groups than mass extinctions.
- Publication:
-
Proceedings of the National Academy of Science
- Pub Date:
- November 2020
- DOI:
- 10.1073/pnas.2005571117
- Bibcode:
- 2020PNAS..11728867C