Plant Science Colloquium with Brian A. Atkinson

The Cretaceous Period (145-66 Ma) was a critical time for the evolution and diversity of land
plants. During this time angiosperms experienced their initial radiation and as a result terrestrial
ecosystems began to resemble modern ones as many forests transitioned from gymnosperm
dominated to angiosperm dominated. This further resulted in diversification events in bryophytes
and ferns while conifers and other gymnosperms are believed to have experienced dramatic
turnovers. My research program focuses on furthering our understanding of this evolutionary
event by recovering and characterizing Late Cretaceous (100-66 Ma) fossils that are three
dimensionally-preserved, down to the cellular level, from undersampled regions including the
western coast of North America and western Antarctica. Such fossils are providing unparalled
details in the systematics, phylogenetic diversification, and life history biology of land plants
during the Cretaceous.