Using Leaves From the Past to Tell the Future!
News story originally written on April 16, 2003

Can you see the leaf insect in this picture? This modern insect devours leaves much like insects long ago. Click on image for full size (24K JPG ) Corel Photography

Today, our climate is changing at breakneck speeds. To better understand how this speedy climate change may affect plants and animals in the future, researchers are looking into the past.

The researchers are looking at thousands of plant fossils that lived during the rapid climate change 65 to 55 million years ago, at the end of the Cretaceous Period; a time when the dinosaurs and many other living things became extinct as climates changed after a giant asteroid hit the Earth.

They wondered how the rapid climate change at the end of the Cretaceous affected plants and the insects that devoured them. Plants and animals may react to climate change in three different ways: by moving to live in a tolerable climate, evolving to tolerate the conditions where they are, or becoming extinct. The researchers studied how ancient plants and insects reacted to the changing climate and found that, for most, extinction was the response.

Plant diversity decreased during the ten million year period and many species were lost. In fact only 21% of the plant species from their sample survived the massive climate change and it took several million years for plants to again become diverse.

Many of the insects that ate the plants also became extinct, especially those that relied on eating only one particular species of plant. Ancient insects munched on leaves in similar ways as insects living today, according to their survey of 13,500 fossil plant leaves. Some insects nibble the edges of leaves, other drill holes in the middle, and there are many different variations as well. They found that the ancient insects had a total of 51 different styles of eating leaves.

Today, humans adding greenhouse gases to our atmosphere by burning fossil fuels have sped up climate change. We have already seen several species become extinct in recent years. The researchers hope that what we learn from the past may help us lessen the loss of species in the future.

Can you see the leaf insect in this picture? This modern insect devours leaves much like insects long ago. Click on image for full size (24K JPG) Corel Photography

Today, our climate is changing very rapidly. To better understand how speedy climate change may affect plants and animals in the future, scientists are looking at the past.

The scientists are looking at thousands of fossil plant leaves that are 65 to 55 million years old. The plants are from the time that dinosaurs and many other living things were becoming extinct as climates changed rapidly after a giant asteroid hit the Earth.

The scientists wondered how the ancient climate change affected plants and the insects that nibbled them. Plants may react to climate change in different ways. Some may move to live in a tolerable climate. Others may evolve to tolerate the new climate. Or, living things may become extinct if they are unable to cope with the new climate. The scientists found that most of the ancient plants they studied became extinct as the climate changed. Over the 10 million year period, there was a large loss of species. In fact, only 21% of the plant species from their sample survived the massive climate change and it took several million years for plants to again become diverse.

Plants were not the only things affected. Many insects that ate the plants also became extinct, especially those that relied on eating only one particular species of plant. The scientists found that ancient insects munched on the fossil leaves in similar ways as insects living today. Some insects nibble the edges of leaves, other drill holes in the middle, and there are many different variations as well. They found that the ancient insects had a total of 51 different styles of eating leaves, but many became extinct as their food source died.

The scientists hope that what we learn from the past may help us lessen the loss of species as climates continue to change in the future.

Can you see the leaf insect in this picture? This modern insect devours leaves much like insects long ago. Click on image for full size (24K JPG) Corel Photography

Wonder why you never see a dinosaur in your yard?

Well, they are extinct of course! So, there are no more of them living on Earth.

Dinosaurs became extinct 65 million years ago. They were not the only living things to die out at that time. Many other animals became extinct too. Now scientists have found that many ancient plants also became extinct just like the dinosaurs did. They found that only a small number from their study area survived.

The scientists looked at thousands of fossil leaves! As they looked at the leaves, they noticed that insects had munched some of them. At the time of the dinosaurs, the insects had nibbled at the ancient leaves, just like insects do today. Some insects nibble the edges of leaves. Other drill holes in the middle. Many of the insects that ate the plants also became extinct.

The plants and animals may have died because of a big change in climate that happened after a giant asteroid hit the Earth. Today, our climate is changing very quickly too. The scientists hope that learning about the past can help us understand how climate change will affect plants and animals in the future.