Bondarenko O.V., Utescher T.
Palaeogeography Palaeoclimatology Palaeoecology 2024; 639: 112064
Early Paleogene vegetation units and their spatial distribution are reconstructed from the palaeobotanical record originating from 73 East Asian localities. A total of 79 microfloras and 31 macrofloras compiled from published sources are analyzed using diversity of plant functional types (PFTs). The spatial patterns obtained from the diversity of PFTs reflect the distribution of major early Paleogene ecosystems. As shown by the analysis different forest associations were most important with trees reaching over 50% of the total diversity in 96% of the localities. Using a data matrix with single PFTs, cluster analysis is performed to interpret the ecospectra of the fossil sites in terms of vegetation units according to their characteristics. As a result, the early Paleogene sites are allocated to four major groups including five subgroups, which can be interpreted in terms of seven vegetation units. The distribution of the units is shown on palaeogeographical maps...
