Journal
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Volume 117, Issue 52, Pages 32989-32995Publisher
NATL ACAD SCIENCES
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2012647117
Keywords
biodiversity; fossil; monsoon; Tibetan Plateau; topography
Categories
Funding
- Second Tibetan Plateau Scientific Expedition and Research Grant [2019QZKK0705]
- Strategic Priority Research Program of CAS [XDA20070301, XDA20070203, XDB26000000]
- National Natural Science Foundation of China-Natural Environment Research Council of the United Kingdom joint research program [41661134049, NE/P013805/1]
- NSFC [41922010, 31590823, 41430102, 41872006]
- XTBG International Fellowship for Visiting Scientists
- CAS President's International Fellowship Initiative [2018VMC0005]
- National Key RAMP
- D Program of China [2017YFC0505200]
- Key Research Program of Frontier Sciences, CAS [QYZDB-SSW-SMC016]
- Youth Innovation Promotion Association, CAS [2017439]
- CAS 135 program [2017XTBG-F01]
- [2017103]
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Tibet's ancient topography and its role in climatic and biotic evolution remain speculative due to a paucity of quantitative surface-height measurements through time and space, and sparse fossil records. However, newly discovered fossils from a present elevation of similar to 4,850 m in central Tibet improve substantially our knowledge of the ancient Tibetan environment. The 70 plant fossil taxa so far recovered include the first occurrences of several modern Asian lineages and represent a Middle Eocene (similar to 47 Mya) humid subtropical ecosystem. The fossils not only record the diverse composition of the ancient Tibetan biota, but also allow us to constrain the Middle Eocene land surface height in central Tibet to similar to 1,500 +/- 900 m, and quantify the prevailing thermal and hydrological regime. This Shangri-La-like ecosystem experienced monsoon seasonality with a mean annual temperature of similar to 19 degrees C, and frosts were rare. It contained few Gondwanan taxa, yet was compositionally similar to contemporaneous floras in both North America and Europe. Our discovery quantifies a key part of Tibetan Paleogene topography and climate, and highlights the importance of Tibet in regard to the origin of modern Asian plant species and the evolution of global biodiversity.
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