European Jurassic floras: statistics and palaeoenvironmental proxies

• Main Authors: Barbacka Maria, Bodor Emese, Jarzynka Agata, Kustatscher Evelyn, Pacyna Grzegorz, Popa Mihai E., Scanu Giovanni G., Thévenard Frédéric, Ziaja Jadwiga
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: W. Szafer Institute of Botany, Polish Academy of Sciences 2014-12-01
• Series: Acta Palaeobotanica
• Subjects: flora composition; autochthonous and allochthonous floras; cluster analysis; PCA; NMDS; Jurassic; Europe
• Online Access: http://www.degruyter.com/view/j/acpa.2014.54.issue-2/acpa-2014-0011/acpa-2014-0011.xml?format=INT

The Jurassic floras of Europe show considerable diversity. To examine the extent of this diversity and its possible causes we used multivariate statistical methods (cluster analysis, PCA, NMDS) to compare all significant Jurassic floras in Europe. Data were based on 770 taxa from 46 fossiliferous occurrences (25 units) from France, Germany, Greenland, Hungary, Italy, Norway, Poland, Romania, Scotland, Serbia, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. Statistical analyses were applied at species level and genus level, and also performed for the major plant groups. The genus cladograms show affinities between different localities based on environmental factors, while the cladograms based on species affinities indicate only taxonomical correlations. The study shows that locality age does not seem to be of paramount importance for floral composition.