Plant Palaeobiology

The Plant Palaeobiology group is funded by the DFG Emmy Noether programme, and investigates the dynamics of the plant fossil record in space and time throughout the later Mesozoic, a period of major revolutions in the terrestrial realm.

Our research focuses on disentangling the biological and geological signal present in the fossil record of plants, integrating approaches such as total-evidence phylogeny, macrostratigraphy, and trait biogeography. We employ both large-scale data analysis and specimen-based work focused on the fossil record of leaves and their cuticle. The group contributes to the Research field “Biodiversity and Earth System Dynamics”.