Harvard Forest Symposium Abstract 2011

Title: Paleoenvironmental significance of the Piedra Chamana monocot fossils
Primary Author: Deborah Woodcock (Clark University)
Abstract:
The Fossil Forest Piedra Chamana is a 39 million year old fossil assemblage in the northern Peruvian Andes (Cordillera Occidental; 79°10’W, 6°35’S) that records the vegetation of South America early in the history of the New World tropical forests and before the rise of the present-day Andes. Past analyses have focused on the geological and taphonomic context of the fossils and paleoenvironmental analysis of the dicot woods and leaves. Monocots are also present in some diversity in the assemblage. I have been utilizing the Harvard Forest slide collection as part of a project looking at the ecotypes that can be recognized among the palms (climbers; rhizomatous and columnar forms; freshwater elements, mangrove associates, etc.) in terms of their morphological and anatomical characteristics. The information gained may aid in paleoenvironmental interpretations of the monocot fossils.
Research Category: International Research Projects

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