Extinction at the end-Cretaceous and the origin of modern Neotropical rainforests

Mónica R Carvalho^#^{1

2}, Carlos Jaramillo^#^{3

4

5}, Felipe de la Parra⁶, Dayenari Caballero-Rodríguez¹, Fabiany Herrera^{1

7}, Scott Wing⁸, Benjamin L Turner^{1

9}, Carlos D'Apolito^{1

10}, Millerlandy Romero-Báez^{1

11}, Paula Narváez^{1

12}, Camila Martínez¹, Mauricio Gutierrez^{1

13}, Conrad Labandeira^{8

14

15}, German Bayona¹⁶, Milton Rueda¹⁷, Manuel Paez-Reyes^{1

18}, Dairon Cárdenas¹⁹, Álvaro Duque²⁰, James L Crowley²¹, Carlos Santos²², Daniele Silvestro^{23

24}

Affiliations

¹ Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Panama.
² Grupo de Investigación Paleontología Neotropical Tradicional y Molecular (PaleoNeo), Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Matemáticas, Universidad del Rosario, Bogotá, Colombia.
³ Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Panama. jaramilloc@si.edu.
⁴ ISEM, U. Montpellier, CNRS, EPHE, IRD, Montpellier, France.
⁵ Department of Geology, Faculty of Sciences, University of Salamanca, Salamanca, Spain.
⁶ Instituto Colombiano del Petróleo, Bucaramanga, Colombia.
⁷ Negaunee Institute for Plant Conservation, Chicago Botanic Garden, Chicago, IL, USA.
⁸ Department of Paleobiology, National Museum of Natural History, Washington, DC, USA.
⁹ Soil and Water Science Department, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA.
¹⁰ Faculdade de Geociências, Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso, Cuiabá, Brazil.
¹¹ ExxonMobil Corporation, Spring, TX, USA.
¹² Instituto Argentino de Nivología, Glaciología y Ciencias Ambientales, CCT-CONICET, Mendoza, Argentina.
¹³ Departamento de Geología, Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile.
¹⁴ Department of Entomology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA.
¹⁵ College of Life Sciences, Capital Normal University, Beijing, China.
¹⁶ Corporación Geológica Ares, Bogotá, Colombia.
¹⁷ Paleoflora Ltda, Zapatoca, Colombia.
¹⁸ Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, University of Houston, Houston, TX, USA.
¹⁹ Instituto Amazónico de Investigaciones Científicas SINCHI, Leticia, Colombia.
²⁰ Departamento de Ciencias Forestales, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Medellín, Colombia.
²¹ Department of Geosciences, Boise State University, Boise, ID, USA.
²² BP Exploration Operating Company Limited, Chertsey Road, Sunbury-on-Thames, Middlesex, UK.
²³ Department of Biology, University of Fribourg, Fribourg, Switzerland.
²⁴ Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Gothenburg and Gothenburg Global Biodiversity Centre, Gothenburg, Sweden.

^# Contributed equally.

PMID: 33795451
DOI: 10.1126/science.abf1969

Extinction at the end-Cretaceous and the origin of modern Neotropical rainforests

Mónica R Carvalho et al. Science. 2021.

. 2021 Apr 2;372(6537):63-68.

doi: 10.1126/science.abf1969.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Panama.
² Grupo de Investigación Paleontología Neotropical Tradicional y Molecular (PaleoNeo), Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Matemáticas, Universidad del Rosario, Bogotá, Colombia.
³ Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Panama. jaramilloc@si.edu.
⁴ ISEM, U. Montpellier, CNRS, EPHE, IRD, Montpellier, France.
⁵ Department of Geology, Faculty of Sciences, University of Salamanca, Salamanca, Spain.
⁶ Instituto Colombiano del Petróleo, Bucaramanga, Colombia.
⁷ Negaunee Institute for Plant Conservation, Chicago Botanic Garden, Chicago, IL, USA.
⁸ Department of Paleobiology, National Museum of Natural History, Washington, DC, USA.
⁹ Soil and Water Science Department, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA.
¹⁰ Faculdade de Geociências, Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso, Cuiabá, Brazil.
¹¹ ExxonMobil Corporation, Spring, TX, USA.
¹² Instituto Argentino de Nivología, Glaciología y Ciencias Ambientales, CCT-CONICET, Mendoza, Argentina.
¹³ Departamento de Geología, Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile.
¹⁴ Department of Entomology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA.
¹⁵ College of Life Sciences, Capital Normal University, Beijing, China.
¹⁶ Corporación Geológica Ares, Bogotá, Colombia.
¹⁷ Paleoflora Ltda, Zapatoca, Colombia.
¹⁸ Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, University of Houston, Houston, TX, USA.
¹⁹ Instituto Amazónico de Investigaciones Científicas SINCHI, Leticia, Colombia.
²⁰ Departamento de Ciencias Forestales, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Medellín, Colombia.
²¹ Department of Geosciences, Boise State University, Boise, ID, USA.
²² BP Exploration Operating Company Limited, Chertsey Road, Sunbury-on-Thames, Middlesex, UK.
²³ Department of Biology, University of Fribourg, Fribourg, Switzerland.
²⁴ Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Gothenburg and Gothenburg Global Biodiversity Centre, Gothenburg, Sweden.

^# Contributed equally.

PMID: 33795451
DOI: 10.1126/science.abf1969

Abstract

The end-Cretaceous event was catastrophic for terrestrial communities worldwide, yet its long-lasting effect on tropical forests remains largely unknown. We quantified plant extinction and ecological change in tropical forests resulting from the end-Cretaceous event using fossil pollen (>50,000 occurrences) and leaves (>6000 specimens) from localities in Colombia. Late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) rainforests were characterized by an open canopy and diverse plant-insect interactions. Plant diversity declined by 45% at the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary and did not recover for ~6 million years. Paleocene forests resembled modern Neotropical rainforests, with a closed canopy and multistratal structure dominated by angiosperms. The end-Cretaceous event triggered a long interval of low plant diversity in the Neotropics and the evolutionary assembly of today's most diverse terrestrial ecosystem.

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The impactful origin of neotropical rainforests.
Jacobs BF, Currano ED. Jacobs BF, et al. Science. 2021 Apr 2;372(6537):28-29. doi: 10.1126/science.abh2086. Science. 2021. PMID: 33795445 No abstract available.

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Extinction at the end-Cretaceous and the origin of modern Neotropical rainforests

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Extinction at the end-Cretaceous and the origin of modern Neotropical rainforests

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