THE ANGIOSPERM-DOMINATED WOODY VEGETATION OF ANTARCTICA - A REVIEW

Antarctic vegetation is today mostly restricted to non-vascular plants , with a few small angiosperms clinging to the Antarctic Peninsula. Ho wever, probably as recently as the mid-late Pliocene woody angiosperms were present in inland Antarctica, suggesting an overall presence of complex and diverse vegetation. Angiosperms were introduced into Antar ctica during the Cretaceous from South America and possibly also South east Asia via Australia. These angiosperms speciated rapidly at the pr evailing high latitudes and were an important source for the developin g angiosperm-dominated vegetation of the Southern Hemisphere. The migr ation and evolution of early angiosperms in Gondwana was probably faci litated by a high level of disturbance caused primarily by the rifting of the supercontinent. This high-latitude region was an important sou rce of evolutionary novelty during the Late Cretaceous-Paleogene. As t he climate deteriorated during the Cenozoic, the angiosperm Bora was r educed in biomass and diversity, finally being restricted to the curre nt remnants. The timing and nature of this major regional extinction i s still poorly understood.