The P-Tr palynological record

Conditions for plant fossilization were not very favorable during the earliest Triassic. Their record is therefore too scattered to study the processes of collapse, survival and recovery of terrestrial ecosystems in high detail. Fortunately, these plants produced huge amounts of pollen and spores (fig. 1). These pollen and spores were transported to the late Permian and early Triassic shallow seas, were they became well preserved within marine sediments. We have a fairly good idea about the botanical affinity of these pollen and spores (fig. 2). They can thus provide the means to reconstruct high-resolution floral responses during and following the crisis. We highlight two important phases (fig. 3) during the subsequent recovery of land vegetation in the Euramerican floral realm: the initial survival phase immediately following ecosystem collapse, and the recovery of woodland 4 to 5 million years later. The crisis and its aftermath are documented on the basis of quantitative palynological data from East Greenland and Hungary.