Climate windows of opportunity for plant expansion during the Phanerozoic

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Abstract

Earth’s long-term climate may have profoundly influenced plant evolution. Local climatic factors, including water availability, light, and temperature, play a key role in plant physiology and growth, and have fluctuated substantially over geological time. However, the impact of these key climate variables on global plant biomass across the Phanerozoic has not yet been established. Linking climate and dynamic vegetation modelling, we identify two key ‘windows of opportunity’ during the Ordovician and Jurassic-Paleogene capable of supporting dramatic expansions of potential plant biomass. These conditions are driven by continental dispersion, paleolatitude of continental area and a lack of glaciation, allowing for an intense hydrological cycle and greater water availability. These windows coincide with the initial expansion of land plants and the later angiosperm radiation. Our findings suggest that the timing and expansion of habitable space for plants played an important role in plant evolution and diversification.

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Item Type:	Article
Authors/Creators:	Gurung, K. Field, K.J. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5196-2360 Batterman, S.A. Goddéris, Y. Donnadieu, Y. Porada, P. Taylor, L.L. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3406-7452 Mills, B.J.W.
Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information:	© The Author(s) 2022. Open Access: This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
Dates:	Published: 4 August 2022 Published (online): 4 August 2022 Accepted: 15 July 2022
Institution:	The University of Sheffield
Academic Units:	The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Science (Sheffield) > School of Biosciences (Sheffield)
Funding Information:	Funder Grant number European Research Council 865225 LEVERHULME TRUST (THE) PLP-2017-079 NATURAL ENVIRONMENT RESEARCH COUNCIL NE/S009663/1 Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council BB/M026825/1
Depositing User:	Symplectic Sheffield
Date Deposited:	04 Aug 2022 15:31
Last Modified:	10 Feb 2023 14:13
Status:	Published
Publisher:	Nature Research (part of Springer Nature)
Refereed:	Yes
Identification Number:	10.1038/s41467-022-32077-7
Related URLs:	Dataset
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID):	oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:189722

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Climate windows of opportunity for plant expansion during the Phanerozoic. (deposited 01 Aug 2022 10:59)
- Climate windows of opportunity for plant expansion during the Phanerozoic. (deposited 04 Aug 2022 15:31) [Currently Displayed]

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Climate windows of opportunity for plant expansion during the Phanerozoic

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Climate windows of opportunity for plant expansion during the Phanerozoic

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