POTENTIAL AND SIGNIFICANCE OF LEAF TRAIT CHANGES OF LONG LIVED SPECIES DURING THE PALEOGENE DISSERTATION Zur Erlangung des akademischen Grades Doctor rerum naturalium (Dr. rer. nat.) Vorgelegt Der Fakultät Mathematik und Naturwissenschaften der Technischen Universität Dresden von Frau Diplom-Geographin Karolin Moraweck Geboren am 11.11.1986 in Zittau Die Dissertation wurde in der Zeit von 07 / 2013 bis 02/2017 am Institut für Botanik angefertigt. Erster Gutachter: Prof. Dr. Christoph Neinhuis (Lehrtuhl für Botanik, Fakultät Mathematik und Naturwissenschaften, Technische Universität Dresden) Zweiter Gutachter: Associate Prof. Tao Su (Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Menglun, Mengla, 666303 Yunnan, China) Tag der Verteidigung: 15.08.2017 Table of Contents Table of Contents Acknowledgments ................................................................................................................................ vi 1. General Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 4 1.1. Eocene to Miocene paleogeography and climate evolution .................................................... 7 1.2. Floristics and vegetation dynamics ................................................................................................ 14 1.3. Current knowledge on correlation of leaf traits with climate and ecology .................... 18 1.4. Scientific questions ............................................................................................................................... 20 1.5. Hypothesis to test .................................................................................................................................. 22 2. Site characteristics and plant assemblages .......................................................................... 24 2.1. Paleobiogeographical settings.......................................................................................................... 24 2.2. Depositional settings and paleoenvironment ............................................................................ 26 2.2.1. Marine depositional settings .................................................................................................... 26 2.2.2. Coastal plain and floodplain depositional facies types .................................................. 28 2.2.3. Volcanic depositional facies types .......................................................................................... 30 2.3. Site characteristics ................................................................................................................................ 32 3. Selection of taxa and brief characteristics ............................................................................ 48 3.1. Fossil plant material ............................................................................................................................. 48 3.1.1. Rhodomyrtophyllum reticulosum (Myrtaceae) ................................................................... 48 3.1.2. Platanus neptuni (Platanaceae) ............................................................................................... 51 ii Table of Contents 3.2. Extant plant material ........................................................................................................................... 55 3.2.1. Platanus kerrii (Platanaceae) ................................................................................................... 55 3.2.3. Syzygium samarangense (Myrtaceae) ................................................................................... 57 4. Methods ............................................................................................................................................. 59 4.1. Paleoclimate reconstruction ............................................................................................................. 59 4.1.1. Coexistence Approach ................................................................................................................. 59 4.1.2. Climate Leaf Analyses Multivariate Program ..................................................................... 61 4.2. Morphological and morphometric parameters ......................................................................... 63 4.3. Cuticular derived parameters ........................................................................................................... 66 4.4. Paleoatmospheric reconstruction ................................................................................................... 69 4.4.1. Determination of input parameters ....................................................................................... 72 4.4.1.1. Determination of dasPP, dst and pwst ............................................................................... 73 4.4.1.2. Carbon isotope measurements........................................................................................ 74 4.4.1.3. Determination of climate input parameters .............................................................. 75 4.4.2. Systematic parameter variation .............................................................................................. 76 5. Results ................................................................................................................................................ 78 5.1. Paleoclimate reconstruction ............................................................................................................. 78 5.1.1. Coexistence Approach ................................................................................................................. 78 5.1.2. Climate Leaf Analyses Multivariate Program ..................................................................... 80 5.2. Morphometric parameters ................................................................................................................ 84 iii Table of Contents 5.2.2. Rhodomyrtophyllum reticulosum .......................................................................................... 84 5.2.1. Platanus neptuni ............................................................................................................................ 86 5.3. Cuticular derived parameters ........................................................................................................... 91 5.3.2. Rhodomyrtophyllum reticulosum ............................................................................................. 91 5.3.1. Platanus neptuni ............................................................................................................................ 95 5.4. Paleoatmospheric reconstruction ................................................................................................ 100 5.4.1. Rhodomyrtophyllum reticulosum .......................................................................................... 100 5.4.2. Platanus neptuni ......................................................................................................................... 103 5.5. Synthesis ................................................................................................................................................ 106 6. Interpretation ............................................................................................................................... 110 6.1. Paleoclimate reconstruction .......................................................................................................... 110 6.1.1. Uncertainties and outliers ................................................................................................. 110 6.1.2. Paleoclimate signals ............................................................................................................. 114 6.2. Morphological and morphometric parameters ...................................................................... 118 6.2.1. Uncertainties and outliers ...................................................................................................... 118 6.2.2. Morphological and morphometric interpretation ........................................................ 120 6.2. Cuticular parameters ........................................................................................................................ 127 6.2.1. Uncertainties and outliers ...................................................................................................... 127 6.2.2. Interpretation of cuticular-based parameters ................................................................ 128 6.3. Paleoatmospheric reconstruction ................................................................................................ 131 iv Table of Contents 6.3.1. Uncertainties and outliers ...................................................................................................... 131 6.3.2. Interpretation of paleoatmospheric parameters ........................................................... 131 7. Conclusion ...................................................................................................................................... 134 8. Perspectives ................................................................................................................................... 136 List of Figures ....................................................................................................................................