KU News Release

Antarctic research earns KU paleobotanist a high honor

LAWRENCE — Edith Taylor’s work takes her on six-week, bone-chilling treks through Antarctica, where she hunts fossil plants that thrived on the continent from 240 million to 260 million years ago.

“At that time there were forests growing in Antarctica,” said Taylor, professor of ecology and evolutionary biology and senior curator of paleobotany at the University of Kansas. “I’ve been particularly interested in what the plants can tell us about past climates there. How warm was the climate? How were the plants living with 24 hours of darkness in the winter and 24 hours of light in the summer?”

Taylor’s research was just acknowledged with a prestigious Merit Award, the highest honor bestowed by the Botanical Society of America, a group formed in 1893 to promote the study of plants.

The Merit Award was driven by nominations from the society’s membership and given to Taylor in recognition of her “outstanding contributions to the science of botany.” It was announced at Botany & Plant Biology 2007, the largest gathering of plant scientists in the country, which took place July 7-11 in Chicago.

“For over two decades Taylor has brought to light the diversity of plants once living in present day Antarctica,” the society said in a statement. “The wealth of information from these studies has shed light on plant diversity at high latitudes in the southern hemisphere, plant biogeography and evolution, and climate history.”

Such accolades have been hard-won. For Taylor, her time spent looking for petrified fossil plants in Antarctica has been a mix of rewarding scientific investigation and personal challenge due to extreme climate.

“You can’t just go out there and search because it’s a vast place really,” Taylor said. “So you go to likely areas where geologists have mapped the rocks and have found plant debris. You go down for as long as you can stand, or how long you’ve set to do your field work.”

According to Taylor, some 240 million years ago a warmer Antarctica was covered with forests and lush greenery, with dinosaur-like creatures roaming the terrain. Antarctica then was part of the supercontinent Pangea.

“The plant life was unique because it was closer to the poles than anything living today,” Taylor said. “While today you have trees in Alaska, they don’t have as many months of darkness in the winter as these did. There has been some argument among paleobotanists whether these plants were deciduous, meaning they dropped their leaves seasonally, or were evergreen like conifers. It only makes sense to me that they would drop their leaves every year.”

The greener Antarctica of the past may be prologue. With the current steep rise in global temperatures, Taylor expects a resurgence of plant life there.

“There are only two land plants that live in Antarctica today,” Taylor said. “One is a grass and one is a euphorb. They live on the Antarctic Peninsula. There has already been an increase in the numbers of plants in those populations. What is expected next is that plants from South America will start migrating onto Antarctica.”

-30-

The University of Kansas is a major comprehensive research and teaching university. University Relations is the central public relations office for KU's Lawrence campus.