Marked Ericales diversity in late Oligocene–Early Miocene palynofloras from northern Thailand suggests stratified mountain forests
- Autor(en)
- Paranchai Malailkanok, Fridgeir Grimsson, Reinhard Zetter, Paul J. Grote, Thomas Denk, Wongkot Phuphumirat
- Abstrakt
Fossil Ericales pollen from late Oligocene to Early Miocene sediments of the Ban Pa Kha Subbasin, Li Basin, northern Thailand, were examined using the single-grain method. A total of 24 different ericalean pollen types belonging to Ebenaceae (Diospyros), Ericaceae (Cassiope, Vaccinium, and Rhododendron), Pentaphylacaceae (Adinandra), Sapotaceae, Styracaceae (Rehderodendron and Styrax), and Symplocaceae (Symplocos) were identified. All the fossil pollen, except that of Sapotaceae, represent families/genera that are described for the first time from the Cenozoic of Thailand. By considering present terrestrial biome occupancy, Köppen?Geiger climate profiles, and vertical distributions of potential modern analogs of the parent plants producing the fossil pollen, the phytosociological and paleoecological preferences of the fossil taxa were assessed. Our results demonstrate that modern analogs of most of the ericalean taxa have wide ecological and climatic amplitudes with a broad zone of convergence in warm and cold temperate humid or seasonally dry climates. Exceptions are Sapotaceae, which rarely occur outside lowland tropical forests, and Cassiope, which at present occurs at high elevations and, besides Rehderodendron, is one of two modern analogs absent from the modern flora of Thailand. Along with a review of phytosociological studies in montane forests of northern Thailand and neighboring regions, this suggests that the assemblage of dispersed ericalean pollen of the Ban Pa Kha Subbasin likely derives from more than one vegetation type and possibly from different vertical zones.
- Organisation(en)
- Department für Botanik und Biodiversitätsforschung
- Externe Organisation(en)
- Prince of Songkla University, Nakhon Ratchasima Rajabhat University, Swedish Museum of Natural History
- Journal
- Journal of Systematics and Evolution
- Band
- n/a
- Anzahl der Seiten
- 23
- ISSN
- 1674-4918
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1111/jse.70010
- Publikationsdatum
- 2025
- Peer-reviewed
- Ja
- ÖFOS 2012
- 105117 Paläobotanik, 106012 Evolutionsforschung
- Schlagwörter
- Sustainable Development Goals
- SDG 3 – Gesundheit und Wohlergehen, SDG 15 – Leben an Land
- Link zum Portal
- https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/de/publications/7cb7ec62-af0b-4cdc-b960-2bbbdabc8a06