The Vegetation Of Antarctica Through Geological Time

The fossil history of plant life in Antarctica is central to our understanding of the evolution of vegetation through geological time and also plays a key role in reconstructing past configurations of the continents and associated climatic conditions. This book provides the only detailed overview of the development of Antarctic vegetation from the Devonian period to the present day, presenting Earth scientists with valuable insights into the break up of the ancient supercontinent of Gondwana. Details of specific floras and ecosystems are provided within the context of changing geological, geographical and environmental conditions, alongside comparisons with contemporaneous and modern ecosystems. The authors demonstrate how palaeobotany contributes to our understanding of the paleoenvironmental changes in the southern hemisphere during this period of Earth history. The book is a complete and up-to-date reference for researchers and students in Antarctic paleobotany and terrestrial paleoecology.

Looks at the fossil plant history of Antarctica and its relationship to the global record of environmental and climate change.

Antarctic Climate Evolution is the first book dedicated to furthering knowledge on the evolution of the world’s largest ice sheet over its ~34 million year history. This volume provides the latest information on subjects ranging from terrestrial and marine geology to sedimentology and glacier geophysics. An overview of Antarctic climate change, analyzing historical, present-day and future developments Contributions from leading experts and scholars from around the world Informs and updates climate change scientists and experts in related areas of study

Antarctic Paleobiology discusses the current status of paleobiology, principally paleobotany and palynology in Antarctica, and the interrelationship of Antarctic floras to those of other Gondwana continents. It provides a broad coverage of the major groups of plants on the one hand, while on the other seeking to evaluate the vegetational history and the physical and biological parameters that influence the distribution of floras through time and space. The biologic activity is discussed within a framework of the geologic history, including the tectonic and paleogeographic history of the region. Finally, the reader will find a comprehensive bibliography of Gondwana paleobotany and palynology.

No other continent on Earth has undergone such radical environmental changes as Antarctica. In its transition from rich biodiversity to the barren, cold land of blizzards we see today, Antarctica provides a dramatic case study of how subtle changes in continental positioning can affect living communities, and how rapidly catastrophic changes can come about. Antarctica has gone from paradise to polar ice in just a few million years, a geological blink of an eye when we consider the real age of Earth. Frozen in Time presents a comprehensive overview of the fossil record of Antarctica framed within its changing environmental settings, providing a window into a past time and environment on the continent. It reconstructs Antarctica’s evolving animal and plant communities as accurately as the fossil record permits. The story of how fossils were first discovered in Antarctica is a triumph of human endeavour. It continues today with modern expeditions going out to remote sites every year to fill in more of the missing parts of the continent’s great jigsaw of life.

Reviews the evidence underpinning the Anthropocene as a geological epoch written by the Anthropocene Working Group investigating it. The book discusses ongoing changes to the Earth system within the context of deep geological time, allowing a comparison between the global transition taking place today with major transitions in Earth history.

Published by the American Geophysical Union as part of the Antarctic Research Series, Volume 60. The Antarctic continent and the surrounding Southern Ocean represent one of the major climate engines of the Earth: coupled components critical in the Earth's environmental system. The contributions in this volume help with the understanding of the long-term evolution of Antarctica's environment and biota. The aim of this and the preceding companion volume is to help place the modern system within a historical context. The environment and biosphere of the Antarctic region have undergone dynamic changes through geologic time. These, in turn, have played a key role in long-term global paleoenvironmental evolution. The development of the Southern Ocean itself, resulting from plate tectonism, created first-order changes in the circulation of the global ocean, in turn affecting meridional heat transport and hence global climates. Biospheric changes responded to the changing oceanic climatic states. Comprehension of the climatic and oceano-graphic processes that have operated at various times in Antarctica's history is crucial to the understanding of the present-day global environmental system. This knowledge will become increasingly important in parallel with concerns about anthropogenically caused global change. How vulnerable is the Antarctic region, especially its ice sheets, to global warming? The question is not parochial, given the potential of sea level change resulting from any Antarctic cryospheric development. Conversely, how much of a role does the Antarctic region, this giant icebox, play in moderating global, including sea level, change?