Early evidence of xeromorphy in angiosperms: stomatal encryption in a new Eocene species of Banksia (Proteaceae) from Western Australia

Simple item page
dc.contributor.authorCarpenter, R.
dc.contributor.authorMcLoughlin, S.
dc.contributor.authorHill, R.
dc.contributor.authorMcNamara, K.
dc.contributor.authorJordan, G.
dc.date.issued2014
dc.description.abstractPREMISE OF THE STUDY: Globally, the origins of xeromorphic traits in modern angiosperm lineages are obscure but are thought to be linked to the early Neogene onset of seasonally arid climates. Stomatal encryption is a xeromorphic trait that is prominent in Banksia, an archetypal genus centered in one of the world's most diverse ecosystems, the ancient infertile landscape of Mediterranean-climate southwestern Australia. METHODS: We describe Banksia paleocrypta, a sclerophyllous species with encrypted stomata from silcretes of the Walebing and Kojonup regions of southwestern Australia dated as Late Eocene. KEY RESULTS: Banksia paleocrypta shows evidence of foliar xeromorphy ∼20 Ma before the widely accepted timing for the onset of aridity in Australia. Species of Banksia subgenus Banksia with very similar leaves are extant in southwestern Australia. The conditions required for silcrete formation infer fluctuating water tables and climatic seasonality in southwestern Australia in the Eocene, and seasonality is supported by the paucity of angiosperm closed-forest elements among the fossil taxa preserved with B. paleocrypta. However, climates in the region during the Eocene are unlikely to have experienced seasons as hot and dry as present-day summers. CONCLUSIONS: The presence of B. paleocrypta within the center of diversity of subgenus Banksia in edaphically ancient southwestern Australia is consistent with the continuous presence of this lineage in the region for ≥40 Ma, a testament to the success of increasingly xeromorphic traits in Banksia over an interval in which numerous other lineages became extinct.
dc.description.statementofresponsibilityRaymond J. Carpenter, Stephen Mcloughlin, Robert S. Hill, Kenneth J. Mcnamara, and Gregory John Jordan
dc.identifier.citationAmerican Journal of Botany, 2014; 101(9):1486-1497
dc.identifier.doi10.3732/ajb.1400191
dc.identifier.issn0002-9122
dc.identifier.issn1537-2197
dc.identifier.orcidHill, R. [0000-0003-4564-4339]
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/2440/89161
dc.language.isoen
dc.publisherBotanical Society of America
dc.relation.granthttp://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/DP110104926
dc.relation.granthttp://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/DP140100307
dc.rights© 2014 Botanical Society of America
dc.source.urihttps://doi.org/10.3732/ajb.1400191
dc.subjectBanksia
dc.subjectEocene
dc.subjectProteaceae
dc.subjectsclerophylly
dc.subjectsilcrete
dc.subjectsouthwestern Australia
dc.subjectstomatal crypt
dc.subjectxeromorphy
dc.titleEarly evidence of xeromorphy in angiosperms: stomatal encryption in a new Eocene species of Banksia (Proteaceae) from Western Australia
dc.typeJournal article
pubs.publication-statusPublished

Files

Collections

Ecology, Evolution and Landscape Science publications