Plant biodiversity changes in Carboniferous tropical wetlands

peer reviewedUsing a combination of species richness, polycohort and constrained cluster analyses, the plant biodiversity of Pennsylvanian (late Carboniferous) tropical wetlands ("coal swamps") has been investigated in five areas in Western Europe and eastern North America: South Wales, Pennines, Ruhr, Saarland and Sydney coal basins. In all cases, species richness expansion followed an essentially logistic curve typical of that associated with ecologically closed habitats, with niche saturation being achieved in about three million years. The resulting steady-state ("climax") coal swamp vegetation had a local-scale (within an area of c. 0.1ha) species diversity in South Wales of 16±7 and Simpson Diversity Indices of 4.53±2.55, which are very similar to values obtained from studies on North American coal swamp vegetation. Landscape diversity (within an area 105km2) varied between 50 and 100 species in the lower to middle Westphalian Stage, falling to about 40-50 species in the upper Westphalian Stage. Regional-scale diversity (within an area>105km2) is difficult to estimate but was at least 120 species. Species turn-over was typically very low, at about 4 species per million years, but there were a number of intervals of more rapid species turn-over in the early Langsettian, late Duckmantian, early Bolsovian and middle Asturian times, which are recognised today as biozonal boundaries. The swamps were mostly subject to ecological stasis during early and middle Westphalian times, although they contracted locally in response to drying of substrates. Later in Westphalian times, however, the swamps were subject to regional-scale changes in composition and aerial extent, probably in response to climate change. The coal swamps had a much lower species diversity compared to modern-day tropical rain forests. © 2012 Elsevier B.V.