Paleobotany, << `pay` lee oh BOTuh nee, >> is the study of ancient plants. Paleobotany is a branch of paleontology, the study of ancient plants, animals, and other organisms. Specialists called paleobotanists investigate the evolution of plant life and the origins and relationships of plant groups. They also examine the link between vegetation and the earth’s changing climate. Paleobotany includes the study of such simple organisms as ancient algae, fungi, and bacteria. In addition, it involves searching for the earliest evidence of life in rocks more than 3 billion years old.
Paleobotanists interpret the earth’s history by examining plant fossils. These fossils have been preserved in sedimentary rocks (rocks formed from deposits laid down by ancient rivers, lakes, and seas). Paleobotanists have found fossil evidence of the earliest known land plants in sedimentary rocks that are about 470 million years old. Remains of early forests are abundant in rocks 350 million years old. The ancestors of all major groups of land plants lived in these forests. Today, the most numerous plants on earth are angiosperms (flowering plants). The oldest known angiosperm fossils date to about 130 million years ago, during the Age of Dinosaurs.
Paleobotanists study the features that plants have developed to survive in their environment. These scientists are thus able to describe the type of climate that existed millions of years ago. Paleobotany contributes to an understanding of how and why the earth’s climate changes. This understanding is important in predicting the changes in climate that humans may cause through the greenhouse effect (a gradual warming of the earth’s surface).
