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. 2022 Feb 22;119(8):e2201070119.
doi: 10.1073/pnas.2201070119.

Science and Culture: Artists join paleobotanists to bring ancient plants to life-and pique viewer interest

Carolyn Beans

Science and Culture: Artists join paleobotanists to bring ancient plants to life-and pique viewer interest

Carolyn Beans. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. .
No abstract available

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Figures

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Aiming to highlight plants alongside dinosaurs, this painting shows water pooled in a Tyrannosaurus rex footprint with fallen leaves strewn beside a magnolia-like blossom. The puddle reflects leafy trees, as well as a T. rex—a juxtaposition meant to emphasize the importance of flora and not just fauna. Image credit: Julius Csotonyi, © Smithsonian Institution.
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An artist depicts a plant called Pleuromeia thriving amongst an animal called a Lystrosaurus about 250 million years ago. The scene is meant to illustrate the low biodiversity in the aftermath of the End-Permian extinction. Image credit: Hannah Bonner/National Geographic Kids.
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Reconstructed based on fossils, this is an artist’s conception of Thaumatopteris brauniana, a large fern that existed at the Triassic-Jurassic boundary and thrived in the harsh conditions of the Jurassic. This carbon dust drawing is a prelude to a color rendering that appeared in the book Tropical Arctic. Image credit: Marlene Hill Donnelly (artist).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Soh W. K., et al. , Palaeo leaf economics reveal a shift in ecosystem function associated with the end-Triassic mass extinction event. Nat. Plants 3, 17104 (2017). - PubMed
    1. McElwain J. C., Hill Donnelly M., Glasspool I. J., Tropical Arctic (The University of Chicago Press, 2021).
    1. Bonner H., When Dinos Dawned, Mammals Got Munched, and Pterosaurs Took Flight (National Geographic Kids, Washington, DC, 2012).
    1. Fuchs G., Grauvogel-Stamm L., Mader D., A remarkable in situ Pleuromeia and Anomopteris flora from the Middle Buntsandstein (Lower Triassic) of the Eifel (F. R. Germany) morphology, palaeoecology and palaeogeography. Palaeontogr. Abt. B 222, 89–120 (1991).
    1. McDermott A., Science and culture: Dinosaur art evolves with new discoveries in paleontology. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 117, 2728–2731 (2020). - PMC - PubMed

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