Fungi associated with Glossopteris (Glossopteridales) leaves from the Permian of Antarctica: A preliminary report
Citation:
Harper, C.J., Taylor, T.N., Krings, M., Taylor, E.L., Fungi associated with Glossopteris (Glossopteridales) leaves from the Permian of Antarctica: A preliminary report, Zitteliana A, 2015, 55, 107 - 114Download Item:
Abstract:
Fungi today occur on virtually every plant part, living and dead, and represent a significant proportion of fungal diversity. Arborescent seed ferns characterized by large, tongue-shaped leaves with reticulate venation (Glossopteris) represent the dominant floral element in the Permian of Gondwana. However, documented evidence of fungi associated with the leaves of these plants is exceedingly rare. Partially degraded Glossopteris leaves from two upper Permian permineralized peat deposits from Antarctica yield scattered evidence of fungal colonization in the form of hyphae, spores, sporangia, and mycelia. Intact leaves from the same deposits are typically free of fungi, suggesting that the fungi in the degraded leaves were saprotrophs on the forest floor, rather than colonizers of living leaves. We hypoth-esize that the scarcity of fungi associated with Antarctic Glossopteris leaves may be related to structural and physiological adaptions of theplants to the extreme conditions that governed late Paleozoic polar ecosystems.
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http://people.tcd.ie/charperDescription:
PUBLISHED
Author: Harper, Carla
Type of material:
Journal ArticleCollections
Series/Report no:
Zitteliana A;55;
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Full text availableKeywords:
Collinson Ridge, Gondwana, Late Paleozoic, Permineralization, Polar forest, Saprotrophism, Skaar RidgeSubject (TCD):
Smart & Sustainable Planet , ANTARCTICA , FOSSIL , FOSSIL LEAVES , Fossil Fungi , Fossils , PERMIANMetadata
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