bioRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/016378; this version posted March 10, 2015. The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under aCC-BY-NC 4.0 International license. Grimm et al.; Fables and Foibles of the Coexistence Approach Fables and foibles: a critical analysis of the Palaeoflora database and the Coexistence approach for palaeoclimate reconstruction Guido W. Grimm1,*, Johannes M. Bouchal1,2, Thomas Denk2, Alastair J. Potts3 1 University of Vienna, Department of Palaeontology, Wien;
[email protected] 2 Swedish Museum of Natural History, Department of Palaeobiology, Stockholm 3 Nelson-Mandela Metropolitan University, Botany Department, Port Elizabeth * Corresponding author 1 bioRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/016378; this version posted March 10, 2015. The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under aCC-BY-NC 4.0 International license. Grimm et al.; Fables and Foibles of the Coexistence Approach Abstract The “Coexistence Approach” is a mutual climate range (MCR) technique combined with the nearest-living relative (NLR) concept. It has been widely used for palaeoclimate reconstructions based on Eurasian plant fossil assemblages, most of them palynofloras (studied using light microscopy). The results have been surprisingly uniform, typically converging to subtropical, per-humid or monsoonal conditions. Studies based on the coexistence approach have had a marked impact in literature, generating over 10,000 citations thus far.