The mid-Miocene Zhangpu biota reveals an outstandingly rich rainforest biome in East Asia

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Issue Date
2021-04-30Author
Wang, Bo
Shi, Gongle
Xu, Chunpeng
Spicer, Robert A.
Perrichot, Vincent
Schmidt, Alexander R.
Feldberg, Kathrin
Heinrichs, Jochen
Chény, Cédric
Pang, Hong
Liu, Xingyue
Gao, Taiping
Wang, Zixi
Ślipiński, Adam
Solórzano-Kraemer, Mónica M.
Heads, Sam W.
Thomas, M. Jared
Sadowski, Eva-Maria
Szwedo, Jacek
Azar, Dany
Nel, André
Liu, Ye
Chen, Jun
Zhang, Qi
Zhang, Qingqing
Luo, Cihang
Yu, Tingting
Zheng, Daran
Zhang, Haichun
Engel, Michael S.
Publisher
American Association for the Advancement of Science
Type
Article
Article Version
Scholarly/refereed, publisher version
Rights
Copyright © 2021 The Authors, some rights reserved; exclusive licensee American Association for the Advancement of Science. No claim to original U.S.Government Works. Distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial License 4.0 (CC BY-NC).
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During the Mid-Miocene Climatic Optimum [MMCO, ~14 to 17 million years (Ma) ago], global temperatures were similar to predicted temperatures for the coming century. Limited megathermal paleoclimatic and fossil data are known from this period, despite its potential as an analog for future climate conditions. Here, we report a rich middle Miocene rainforest biome, the Zhangpu biota (~14.7 Ma ago), based on material preserved in amber and associated sedimentary rocks from southeastern China. The record shows that the mid-Miocene rainforest reached at least 24.2°N and was more widespread than previously estimated. Our results not only highlight the role of tropical rainforests acting as evolutionary museums for biodiversity at the generic level but also suggest that the MMCO probably strongly shaped the East Asian biota via the northern expansion of the megathermal rainforest biome. The Zhangpu biota provides an ideal snapshot for biodiversity redistribution during global warming.
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Citation
Wang, B., Shi, G., Xu, C., Spicer, R. A., Perrichot, V., Schmidt, A. R., Feldberg, K., Heinrichs, J., Chény, C., Pang, H., Liu, X., Gao, T., Wang, Z., Ślipiński, A., Solórzano-Kraemer, M. M., Heads, S. W., Thomas, M. J., Sadowski, E. M., Szwedo, J., Azar, D., … Engel, M. S. (2021). The mid-Miocene Zhangpu biota reveals an outstandingly rich rainforest biome in East Asia. Science advances, 7(18), eabg0625. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abg0625
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Except where otherwise noted, this item's license is described as: Copyright © 2021 The Authors, some rights reserved; exclusive licensee American Association for the Advancement of Science. No claim to original U.S.Government Works. Distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial License 4.0 (CC BY-NC).