A Middle Eocene lowland humid subtropical "Shangri-La" ecosystem in central Tibet.

Tibetan Plateau biodiversity fossil monsoon topography

Journal

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
ISSN: 1091-6490
Titre abrégé: Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A
Pays: United States
ID NLM: 7505876

Informations de publication

Date de publication:
29 12 2020
Historique:
pubmed: 9 12 2020
medline: 9 12 2020
entrez: 8 12 2020
Statut: ppublish

Résumé

Tibet's ancient topography and its role in climatic and biotic evolution remain speculative due to a paucity of quantitative surface-height measurements through time and space, and sparse fossil records. However, newly discovered fossils from a present elevation of ∼4,850 m in central Tibet improve substantially our knowledge of the ancient Tibetan environment. The 70 plant fossil taxa so far recovered include the first occurrences of several modern Asian lineages and represent a Middle Eocene (∼47 Mya) humid subtropical ecosystem. The fossils not only record the diverse composition of the ancient Tibetan biota, but also allow us to constrain the Middle Eocene land surface height in central Tibet to ∼1,500 ± 900 m, and quantify the prevailing thermal and hydrological regime. This "Shangri-La"-like ecosystem experienced monsoon seasonality with a mean annual temperature of ∼19 °C, and frosts were rare. It contained few Gondwanan taxa, yet was compositionally similar to contemporaneous floras in both North America and Europe. Our discovery quantifies a key part of Tibetan Paleogene topography and climate, and highlights the importance of Tibet in regard to the origin of modern Asian plant species and the evolution of global biodiversity.

Identifiants

DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2012647117 PMID: 33288692 PMC: PMC7777077
pubmed: 33288692
pii: 2012647117
doi: 10.1073/pnas.2012647117
pmc: PMC7777077
doi:

Types de publication

Journal Article Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Langues

eng

Sous-ensembles de citation

IM

Pagination

32989-32995

Informations de copyright

Copyright © 2020 the Author(s). Published by PNAS.

Déclaration de conflit d'intérêts

The authors declare no competing interest.

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Auteurs

Tao Su (T)

CAS Key Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Mengla 666303, China; sutao@xtbg.org.cn zhouzk@xtbg.ac.cn.
Center of Plant Ecology, Core Botanical Gardens, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Mengla 666303, China.
University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, 100049 Beijing, China.
ORCID: 0000-0002-9148-6127

Robert A Spicer (RA)

CAS Key Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Mengla 666303, China.
School of Environment, Earth and Ecosystem Sciences, The Open University, Milton Keynes, MK7 6AA, United Kingdom.
ORCID: 0000-0003-1076-2693

Fei-Xiang Wu (FX)

Key Laboratory of Vertebrate Evolution and Human Origins, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 100044 Beijing, China.
Center for Excellence in Life and Paleoenvironment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 100101 Beijing, China.

Alexander Farnsworth (A)

School of Geographical Sciences and Cabot Institute, University of Bristol, Bristol, BS8 1TH, United Kingdom.
ORCID: 0000-0001-5585-5338

Jian Huang (J)

CAS Key Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Mengla 666303, China.
Center of Plant Ecology, Core Botanical Gardens, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Mengla 666303, China.

Cédric Del Rio (C)

CAS Key Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Mengla 666303, China.
ORCID: 0000-0002-6340-5692

Tao Deng (T)

University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, 100049 Beijing, China.
Key Laboratory of Vertebrate Evolution and Human Origins, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 100044 Beijing, China.
Center for Excellence in Life and Paleoenvironment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 100101 Beijing, China.
ORCID: 0000-0003-0069-5474

Lin Ding (L)

CAS Center for Excellence in Tibetan Plateau Earth Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 100101 Beijing, China.
Key Laboratory of Continental Collision and Plateau Uplift, Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 100101 Beijing, China.

Wei-Yu-Dong Deng (WY)

CAS Key Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Mengla 666303, China.
University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, 100049 Beijing, China.

Yong-Jiang Huang (YJ)

Key Laboratory for Plant Diversity and Biogeography of East Asia, Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 650204 Kunming, China.
ORCID: 0000-0003-1898-6501

Alice Hughes (A)

Center for Integrative Conservation, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Mengla 666303, China.
ORCID: 0000-0002-4899-3158

Lin-Bo Jia (LB)

Key Laboratory for Plant Diversity and Biogeography of East Asia, Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 650204 Kunming, China.
ORCID: 0000-0003-0848-7960

Jian-Hua Jin (JH)

State Key Laboratory of Biocontrol and Guangdong Key Laboratory of Plant Resources, School of Life Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275, China.
ORCID: 0000-0002-1486-8631

Shu-Feng Li (SF)

CAS Key Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Mengla 666303, China.
Center of Plant Ecology, Core Botanical Gardens, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Mengla 666303, China.
ORCID: 0000-0002-5144-4432

Shui-Qing Liang (SQ)

Public Technology Service Center, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Mengla 666303, China.

Jia Liu (J)

CAS Key Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Mengla 666303, China.
Center of Plant Ecology, Core Botanical Gardens, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Mengla 666303, China.
ORCID: 0000-0001-6730-3119

Xiao-Yan Liu (XY)

School of Geography, South China Normal University, 510631 Guangzhou, China.

Sarah Sherlock (S)

School of Environment, Earth and Ecosystem Sciences, The Open University, Milton Keynes, MK7 6AA, United Kingdom.

Teresa Spicer (T)

CAS Key Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Mengla 666303, China.

Gaurav Srivastava (G)

Cenozoic Palaeofloristic Megafossil Lab, Birbal Sahni Institute of Paleosciences, Lucknow 226 007, India.
ORCID: 0000-0001-7498-4338

He Tang (H)

CAS Key Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Mengla 666303, China.
University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, 100049 Beijing, China.

Paul Valdes (P)

School of Geographical Sciences and Cabot Institute, University of Bristol, Bristol, BS8 1TH, United Kingdom.

Teng-Xiang Wang (TX)

CAS Key Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Mengla 666303, China.
University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, 100049 Beijing, China.
ORCID: 0000-0002-1334-8685

Mike Widdowson (M)

School of Environmental Sciences, University of Hull, Hull HU6 7RX, United Kingdom.

Meng-Xiao Wu (MX)

CAS Key Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Mengla 666303, China.
University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, 100049 Beijing, China.

Yao-Wu Xing (YW)

CAS Key Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Mengla 666303, China.
Center of Plant Ecology, Core Botanical Gardens, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Mengla 666303, China.
ORCID: 0000-0001-6709-4492

Cong-Li Xu (CL)

CAS Key Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Mengla 666303, China.

Jian Yang (J)

State Key Laboratory of Systematic and Evolutionary Botany, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100093, China.
ORCID: 0000-0002-9960-0633

Cong Zhang (C)

State Key Laboratory of Continental Tectonics and Dynamics, Institute of Geology, Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences, 100037 Beijing, China.
ORCID: 0000-0002-0841-5476

Shi-Tao Zhang (ST)

Faculty of Land Resource Engineering, Kunming University of Science and Technology, 650093 Kunming, China.
ORCID: 0000-0002-8901-9255

Xin-Wen Zhang (XW)

CAS Key Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Mengla 666303, China.
University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, 100049 Beijing, China.
ORCID: 0000-0002-0030-638X

Fan Zhao (F)

CAS Key Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Mengla 666303, China.

Zhe-Kun Zhou (ZK)

CAS Key Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Mengla 666303, China; sutao@xtbg.org.cn zhouzk@xtbg.ac.cn.
Center of Plant Ecology, Core Botanical Gardens, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Mengla 666303, China.
Key Laboratory for Plant Diversity and Biogeography of East Asia, Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 650204 Kunming, China.
ORCID: 0000-0002-0710-2128

Classifications MeSH