Sporomorph chemistry, size and morphological disparity: towards a better understanding of the plant fossil record

• Applicant: Phillip Jardine, Ph.D.
• Subject Area: Palaeontology
• Term: from 2020 to 2024
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 443701866

Sporomorphs (pollen and spores) are a mainstay of research into past vegetation change. The majority of sporomorph research relies on assigning specimens to morphologically-circumscribed taxa, and from these estimating diversity and compositional change through time. However, the low taxonomic resolution obtainable from sporomorphs, and the challenge of confidently assigning fossil specimens to extant taxa, mean that robust estimates of past biodiversity that can be integrated with modern data are difficult to achieve. More direct means of extracting botanically informative data include utilising chemistry, size, and morphology measurements, all of which can be readily generated from both extant and fossil specimens. The lack of large-scale, phylogenetically informed research in this area, however, means that the controls on these parameters are not fully understood, and nor are the impacts of differing measurement systems or analysis techniques.The aim of this project is to analyse sporomorph chemistry, size, and morphological diversity (=disparity) in a phylogenetic context using a range of extant and fossil datasets. The project will (a) assess the potential for using sporomorph chemistry as a classification tool in the fossil record; (b) quantify sporomorph size variation, and test the importance of genome size, climate and photosynthetic pathway for driving this variation; and (c) evaluate the controls on sporomorph morphological disparity in light of different measurement and quantification approaches. This project will also explore the potential use of automated measurement systems for high-throughput sporomorph size and morphology data generation.The results of this project will provide a robust assessment of the drivers and potential uses of multiple measurable sporomorph parameters. In addition to the immediate biological and methodological implications, it is anticipated that the outcomes of this project will stimulate further research into extracting data from sporomorph samples, and new ways of integrating fossil and extant floral data.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants