Recipient Organization
NORTH CAROLINA STATE UNIV
(N/A)
RALEIGH,NC 27695
Performing Department
Plant & Microbial Biology
Non Technical Summary
The Cretaceous-age fossil plants of North Carolina are abundant but not well understood taxonomically or floristically. Theregional Cretaceous paleoecology and paleoclimatology based on the fossil flora, is not well understood. The proposed studywill collect, identify, and determine floristic relationships of Cretaceous-age fossil plants of North Carolina. The proposed studywill also examine paleoecological relationships of Cretaceous-age fossil plants of North Carolina. Paleoclimatologicalinformation, such as average annual temperature, will bee assessed from this data. The proposed study will then comparetaxonomic, floristic and paleoecological relationships of Cretaceous-age fossil plants of North Carolina to similar age floras inNorth America and the world. Paleoclimatological data derived from these plants will be compared and integrated into regionaland worldwide climatological interpretations.
Animal Health Component
(N/A)
Research Effort Categories
Basic
100%
Applied
(N/A)
Developmental
(N/A)
Goals / Objectives
Climate change is a suspected cause of shifts in natural and agricultural patterns of plant growth and distribution. Studying pastfloras permits us to place current climate change in a temporal framework, including overall comparison of climates of the pastto the present and rates of change over time. It is well established that foliar physiognomy shows a very strong correlation withaverage temperature, and stomatal density gives data about carbon dioxide concentration. The proposed study would add to thedata allowing understanding of past regional climates and climate change, permitting clearer understanding of these globally.This provides the background for understanding how present climates came to be, how and why they are changing, andpredicting possible future changes. Understanding past climates is rooted in floristic fossil studies. Cretaceous plant fossils havebeen reported in North Carolina from the Tar Heel Formation principally by E. W. Berry in theearly 1900's. Berry traveled theCape Fear, Neuse, Tar, and Black Rivers for the Geological Survey. He described 62 fossil plants, mainly angiosperm leavesand gymnosperms. My reexamination of available specimens shows that they are so incomplete that the original descriptionsmust be questioned. Since Berry, new techniques for fossil preparation have been developed, and concepts have evolvedconcerning plant systematics. Productive fossil localities occur at the Neuse River Cutoff, Willis Creek and Lock localities, alongthe Black River, and on the Tar River. Some localities reported by Berry may have been lost. Additional field studies willincrease the number of new and rediscovered localities. This study will collect, identify, and determine floristic, paleoecologicaland paleoclimatological relationships of these poorly understood fossil plants, using modern techniques, allowing expansion ofour knowledge of these once living organisms. This would permit conclusions concerningplant evolution, floral changes resultingfrom the end-Cretaceous extinction event, paleoclimatology, and more precise correlation of these strata. Objectives include: A) collecting plant fossil specimens from the Cretaceous in North Carolina and continuing development of a research collection.The area in which the Tar Heel formation occurs is extensive and potential to uncover new collecting sites is high, B) preparingthese specimens for study using modern techniques, including maceration, light and scanning electron microscopy, C)identifying and determining phylogenetic relationships of specimens. With wider collecting, new taxa, more complete and largernumbers of specimens of known taxa will be recovered, D) photographing specimens forpublication, emphasizing important characteristics., E) assessing paleoecological conditions under which these plants grew, F)developing a regional paleoecology and paleoclimatology based on these plants, G) reexamining fossils from theBerrycollections. Location of few of these fossils is known, but some are available to be reexamined, H) publication of a revisedflora with paleoecological and paleoclimatological context for the Cretaceous of North Carolina.
Project Methods
A. During field collection, specimens are carefully excavated and wrapped for storage. Collection will concentrate on the Neuse,Cape Fear, Black, and Tar Rivers. Collections will be housed at North Carolina State University. B. Fossil specimens will becleaned and macerated from the matrix using a mixture of water and detergent. Specimens are sieved from the matrix andstored for study. Specimens are sorted by observing under a dissecting stereomicroscope and prepared for light or scanningelectron microscopy to reveal critical fine structural features. C. Identification is accomplished through detailed comparison withpublished reports of fossil and living plants. D. Sharp, clear photographs are essential for accurate and concise communicationof fossil plant structure and taxonomy. In addition, clear figures are required for description of a new taxon and recommendedfor redescription of existing taxa. Published photographs may provide future workers with the onlydata available about a taxon, ifthe original specimens are lost. E. Paleoecology of fossil plants is interpreted through study of the sediments in which the fossilswere incorporated and through the probable sequence of events that lead to plant parts being deposited at that particularlocality. Much of this is done by comparison with present-day situations of sedimentation as described in the literature. F.Comparison of fossil plant floras and the resulting paleoecological interpretations will be integrated into a regional picture.Several studies have been published on Upper Cretaceous plant fossils from western North America, Europe, and southeasternNorth America. Floristic and paleoecological comparison of the North Carolina floras with others will provide a world-wideframework with which to evaluate regional plant geography and paleoclimatology during the Upper Cretaceous. G.Paleoclimatological information will be based on the flora and analyzed using such programs asClimate Leaf AnalysisMultivariate Program (CLAMP). This paleoclimatological information will be compared other floras and integrated into intoregional and worldwide climatological interpretations.