Abstract The Miocene epoch (23.03–5.33 Ma) was a time interval of global warmth, relative
to today. Continental configurations and mountain topography transitioned toward modern …

Topographically complex regions on land and in the oceans feature hotspots of biodiversity
that reflect geological influences on ecological and evolutionary processes. Over geologic …

The evolution and subsequent ecological expansion of grasses (Poaceae) since the Late
Cretaceous have resulted in the establishment of one of Earth's dominant biomes, the …

A recent controversy concerns whether plant traits that are assumed to be adaptations to fire
originally evolved in response to selective factors other than fire. We contribute to this …

A large stable isotope dataset from East and Central Africa from ca. 30 regional collection
sites that range from forest to grassland shows that most extant East and Central African …

The evolution of high-crowned cheek teeth (hypsodonty) in herbivorous mammals during the
late Cenozoic is classically regarded as an adaptive response to the near-global spread of …

Rice and its relatives are a focal point in agricultural and evolutionary science, but a paucity
of fossils has obscured their deep-time history. Previously described cuticles with silica …

Phytoliths, microscopic plant silica bodies, are often preserved in modern and fossil soils
and sediment, as well as in archaeological contexts. They record unique characteristics of …

The assembly of Africa's iconic C4 grassland ecosystems is central to evolutionary
interpretations of many mammal lineages, including hominins. C4 grasses are thought to …

The Asian monsoon variations under global temperature changes during the Pliocene are
still debated. Here we use a sedimentary record of phytoliths (plant silica) from the Weihe …