Exceptionally well-preserved Early Cretaceous seed plants from Mongolia

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The Early Cretaceous of Mongolia is well known for its fossil dinosaurs and other vertebrates, but fossil plants from Mongolia are very poorly studied. This project will examine diverse assemblages of fossil plants from multiple Early Cretaceous age localities that are yielding new, abundant, and exceptionally well-preserved seed plant fossils. The goal of the research is to discover, characterize, document and understand the implications of these newly discovered fossil plants that date to a critical interval for changes in the flora of the Earth. The fossil material will be studied primarily using scanning electron microscopy and high-resolution X-ray microtomography. The excellent preservation provides a rare opportunity to reconstruct ?whole plants? from multiple co-occurring fossils of extinct Cretaceous species. This study is important in several respects. The overarching objective for the study is to inform a deeper understanding of seed plant evolution. The research will add significantly to knowledge about extinct seed plants during the Early Cretaceous, an interval of major and rapid evolutionary and vegetational change. The project will strengthen international collaboration among US, Japanese and Mongolian scientists and students. Student involvement and communicating science to the public are institutional priorities and will be accomplished through on hands training for students, feature articles, website presentations, and exhibition outreach at the Chicago Botanic Garden and the Field Museum.