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Decoupling the spread of grasslands from the evolution of grazer-type herbivores in South America

It has been thought that the evolution of mammals similar to modern grass-eating horses in South America ∼38 million years ago was a response to the spread of grasslands. This study uses microscopic plant silica fossils from southern Argentina to show that these presumed grass-eating mammals evolved in forests, not grasslands.

Caroline A.E. Strömberg
Regan E. Dunn
Alfredo A. Carlini
Research12 Feb 2013
Nature Communications

Volume: 4, P: 1-8
The origin and evolution of open habitats in North America inferred by Bayesian deep learning models

The expansion timing and dynamics of open vegetation are disputed. Here, the authors present a model of paleovegetation changes in North America, showing open vegetation beginning around 23 million years ago and accelerating at 5 million years ago to become the most prominent natural vegetation type in North America today.

Tobias Andermann
Caroline A. E. Strömberg
Daniele Silvestro
ResearchOpen Access17 Aug 2022
Nature Communications

Volume: 13, P: 1-13
Convergent evidence for the temperature-dependent emergence of silicification in terrestrial plants

The evolutionary reasons for the variation in silicon concentrations across plant families remain unclear. This paper provides new evidence that silicon variation is closely linked to global and long-term climate change, suggesting temperature could have driven the evolution of plant silicification.

Zhihao Pang
Félix de Tombeur
Yongchao Liang
ResearchOpen Access29 Jan 2025
Nature Communications

Volume: 16, P: 1-13
Nitrogen isotopes reveal independent origins of N₂-fixing symbiosis in extant cycad lineages

Nitrogen isotopic measurements from fossilized cycad leaves and ancestral state reconstructions suggest that N₂-fixing symbiosis arose independently in the lineages leading to extant cycads at some point during or after the Jurassic.

Michael A. Kipp
Eva E. Stüeken
Roger Buick
Research16 Nov 2023
Nature Ecology & Evolution

Volume: 8, P: 57-69
Bivalve network reveals latitudinal selectivity gradient at the end-Cretaceous mass extinction

Daril A. Vilhena
Elisha B. Harris
Gregory P. Wilson
ResearchOpen Access07 May 2013
Scientific Reports

Volume: 3, P: 1-5

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Decoupling the spread of grasslands from the evolution of grazer-type herbivores in South America

The origin and evolution of open habitats in North America inferred by Bayesian deep learning models

Convergent evidence for the temperature-dependent emergence of silicification in terrestrial plants

Nitrogen isotopes reveal independent origins of N2-fixing symbiosis in extant cycad lineages

Bivalve network reveals latitudinal selectivity gradient at the end-Cretaceous mass extinction

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Nitrogen isotopes reveal independent origins of N₂-fixing symbiosis in extant cycad lineages