Carboniferous 2: Rise of plant community complexity and climate interaction

The Carboniferous presents a period of dynamic changes in climate, tectonics and ecology. Plant evolution and expansion during this time allowed for large-scale coal deposit formation and enhanced biological input within biogeochemical cycles which exerted a stronger influence on Earth's climate. Using fossil data and vegetation-climate modelling, we explore the gradual changes of vegetation as they change from globally uniform ecosystems to fragmented and distinct provinces. The chapter also discusses the potential missing link between vegetation strategies and localised environmental conditions, and climate modelling over the Carboniferous which may explain the increase in organic sediment and coal forest extent despite lower global temperatures. As changes in palaeogeography and palaeoclimate created drier and more seasonal envrionments, the trajectory of plant evolution favored seasonality- and drought-tolerant plants, bringing us closer to present-day floral distributions.