Diversity, ecology and functional traits of the medullosan seed ferns, widespread crucial plants in intramontane regions of early Permian tropical Pangea (central Europe)

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The project deals with the Medullosaceae, a specific group of seed ferns of the late Paleozoic. We know these plants primarily from the tropical forests of the Carboniferous coal basins of North America, but they were also widespread in seasonally dry forests of the early Permian. However, little is known about these early Permian forms, what they looked like and what evolutionary adaptations to the changing environmental conditions during the Permian-Carboniferous transition they reflect. In the Chemnitz Fossil Forest, an ancient forest habitat was preserved by volcanic ash about 291 million years ago, the three-dimensional preservation of nearly complete plants allows for a detailed reconstruction of the medullosans, including the habitat in which they thrived. The three-year project aims to re-evaluate the taxonomy of these plants to better understand their diversity by assessing comprehensive collection material. Concerning the Permian taxa, we aim to use systematically excavated fossils to generate whole-plant concepts that allow conclusions about growth form and architecture. A second goal is to characterise medullosan palaeoecology in the greatest possible detail, encompassing the study of 3D-preserved root systems and morphometric analysis of their sizable fern-like fronds. A third project goal is to model plant physiological processes using anatomical parameters. For this purpose, new approaches for quantifying the water-conducting capacity of fossil plants will be developed and applied to utilise computer simulations. As a result, we provide a new methodological tool for palaeobotany to gain atmospheric environmental parameters in fossil forests and draw water and carbon cycling conclusions. The latter is particularly interesting for the early Permian when a globally significant glaciation ended. Based on their supposed high biomass production and evaporation rates, we hypothesise that the medullosans had a substantial impact on carbon and water cycles in these seasonally dry ecosystems. These key parameters shall become quantifiable as part of the project. In the collection-based project, the focus is on training young scientists by providing a PhD position and several student assistant positions to achieve academic graduation. The scientific work benefits from an international cooperation network representing different expertise. For the execution of traditional and modern scientific methods, we mainly use the infrastructure of the applicants institution and its cooperation partners. Science communication is another relevant program item in which we will communicate thematic aspects to the public and provide information on the project's progress.