Cover Image Credits

The figure shown displays maps of the average dominant climate characteristics for an interglacial period from the latter part of the Pennsylvanian (310 mya). These maps were generated from a global circulation modeling (GENESIS v.3) with daily average values shown in the graphs on the right-hand side for a selected location. These data were part of study in which key leaf properties derived from plant fossils were used as model inputs to simulate growth, water use, and nitrogen cycling for iconic plants common to the tropical lowland ecosystems of the late Carboniferous. The combination of the richness the climate and paleontological data within a mechanistic, process ecosystem model provide a next step in studying the responses of extinct plant life to past environmental changes. (See White and others, p. 547–598.)