Plant fossil record and survival analyses

Survival analysis is a classic palaeobiological method widely used on the animal fossil record. This study reports the first application of survivorship analyses on the plant fossil record from a global viewpoint and provides a new comparative approach of this methodology. The results reveal three important plant extinction events in the history of plant life at a global scale. The results also clearly suggest that the origination events are more intensive than extinction processes and that the origination moment of several lineages of vascular plants is an important factor that conditions their longevity. This study supports the general idea that vascular plants tended to be less affected by the environmental changes that caused mass extinction in other groups of organisms. □Extinction events, fossil record, survival patterns, taxonomic survivorship curves, vascular plants. © 2011 The Authors, Lethaia © 2011 The Lethaia Foundation