The Heavy Links between Geological Events and Vascular Plants Evolution: A Brief Outline

Figure 4

From [17], generic level diversification analysis of all vascular plants. Origination (blue) and extinction (green) rates were estimated using the Bayesian approach implemented in PyRate, within time bins defined as epochs of the geologic timescale (shown at the bottom). The timescale (-axis) is given in million years ago (Ma). Solid lines indicate mean posterior rates, whereas the shaded areas show 95% HPD intervals. The diversification dynamics were estimated for vascular plants as a whole (a–c), spore-bearing plants (d–f), nonflowering seed plants (g–i), and flowering seed plants (angiosperms: j–l). Net diversification rates (gray) are defined as origination minus extinction. The dashed lines indicate the major mass extinction events widely recognized: at the Frasnian-Famennian (FFB), Permian-Triassic (PTB), Triassic-Jurassic (TJB), and Cretaceous-Paleogene (KPB) boundaries. Plant silhouettes were obtained from http://phylopic.org/.