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Flammable biomes dominated by eucalypts originated at the Cretaceous-Palaeogene boundary

journal contribution
posted on 2023-05-17, 11:05 authored by Crisp, MD, Burrows, GE, Cook, LG, Thornhill, AH, David BowmanDavid Bowman
Fire is a major modifier of communities, but the evolutionary origins of its prevalent role in shaping current biomes are uncertain. Australia is among the most fire-prone continents, with most of the landmass occupied by the fire-dependent sclerophyll and savanna biomes. In contrast to biomes with similar climates in other continents, Australia has a tree flora dominated by a single genus, Eucalyptus, and related Myrtaceae. A unique mechanism in Myrtaceae for enduring and recovering from fire damage likely resulted in this dominance. Here, we find a conserved phylogenetic relationship between post-fire resprouting (epicormic) anatomy and biome evolution, dating from 60 to 62 Ma, in the earliest Palaeogene. Thus, fire-dependent communities likely existed 50 million years earlier than previously thought. We predict that epicormic resprouting could make eucalypt forests and woodlands an excellent long-term carbon bank for reducing atmospheric CO(2) compared with biomes with similar fire regimes in other continents.

History

Publication title

Nature Communications

Article number

193

Number

193

Pagination

1-3

ISSN

2041-1723

Department/School

School of Natural Sciences

Publisher

Nature Publishing Group

Place of publication

UK

Rights statement

Copyright 2011 Macmillan Publisher Limited

Repository Status

  • Restricted

Socio-economic Objectives

Terrestrial biodiversity

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