Reconstructing the Whole Plant Archaeopteris, A Late Devonian Progymnosperm Tree, and its Forested Landscapes

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Scheckler 9728719 Archaeopteris, a progymnosperm tree, dominated the Earth's first forests that began in the mid Paleozoic (Late Devonian, about 360-350 million years ago). These are extinct progymnosperm plants with many similarities to seed plants, but that reproduced by spores rather than seeds. These first forests are peculiar for several reasons. One is that they had only one to three species of Archaeopteris at a time. Another is that these trees grew and branched in self-limited way. Although tall (up to 30 m/90 It) and sometimes wide (up to 1 m/3 It), the trees were not old. The trees lived for only 3-20 years. Archaeopteris is an important model for growth and reproduction of potential ancestral seed plant relatives. Several buried forests are exposed in stone quarries near Binghamton, New York. The trees show how the landscape and vegetation of ancient floodplains changed with the emergence of this progymnosperm tree. New fossil specimens also show how Archaeopteris grew. This project examines the role of tree growth in production and spread of these new forest ecosystems by reconstructing the whole plant, from crown to roots, and by mapping the vegetation of these buried forests. At no other time in Earth's history did one plant type so dominate the world. These ancient forests thus provide important information about the role of species diversity or species poverty in the stability of forests and their ability to recover following disturbance.