Rapid Eocene diversification of spiny plants in subtropical woodlands of central Tibet

Xinwen Zhang, Uriel Gélin, Robert A. Spicer, Feixiang Wu, Alexander Farnsworth, Peirong Chen, Cédric Del Rio, Shufeng Li, Jia Liu, Jian Huang, Teresa E. V. Spicer, Kyle W. Tomlinson, Paul J. Valdes, Xiaoting Xu, Shitao Zhang, Tao Deng, Zhekun Zhou and Tao Su ()
Additional contact information
Xinwen Zhang: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Uriel Gélin: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Robert A. Spicer: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Feixiang Wu: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Alexander Farnsworth: University of Bristol
Peirong Chen: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Cédric Del Rio: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Shufeng Li: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Jia Liu: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Jian Huang: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Teresa E. V. Spicer: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Kyle W. Tomlinson: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Paul J. Valdes: University of Bristol
Xiaoting Xu: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Shitao Zhang: Kunming University of Science and Technology
Tao Deng: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Zhekun Zhou: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Tao Su: Chinese Academy of Sciences

Nature Communications, 2022, vol. 13, issue 1, 1-10

Abstract: Abstract Spinescence is an important functional trait possessed by many plant species for physical defence against mammalian herbivores. The development of spinescence must have been closely associated with both biotic and abiotic factors in the geological past, but knowledge of spinescence evolution suffers from a dearth of fossil records, with most studies focusing on spatial patterns and spinescence-herbivore interactions in modern ecosystems. Numerous well-preserved Eocene (~39 Ma) plant fossils exhibiting seven different spine morphologies discovered recently in the central Tibetan Plateau, combined with molecular phylogenetic character reconstruction, point not only to the presence of a diversity of spiny plants in Eocene central Tibet but a rapid diversification of spiny plants in Eurasia around that time. These spiny plants occupied an open woodland landscape, indicated by numerous megafossils and grass phytoliths found in the same deposits, as well as numerical climate and vegetation modelling. Our study shows that regional aridification and expansion of herbivorous mammals may have driven the diversification of functional spinescence in central Tibetan woodlands, ~24 million years earlier than similar transformations in Africa.

Date: 2022
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-31512-z

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