Paleoclimatic Analysis of Paleogene Flora in Yilan County,Heilongjiang

Plant fossils were collected from the sand-shale above the lower coal seam and the upper oil shale above the upper coal seam in the Yilan coal mine, Heilongjiang. The floras contained 2 species of pteridophytes, 10 species of gymnosperms and over 58 species of angiosperms assigned to 46 genera and 34 families. The fossils were divided into two floras, one of which was in lower sand-shale beds, with the age assigned to the Eocene, and the other was in the upper part of oil shales considered to belong to the Oligocene. The floras were complicated in composition and rich in species, and were studied by means of floristic analysis, foliar architectural and physiognomical analysis. The Eocene flora consisted of many evergreen broad-leaved species, which indicated that the flora belonged to north subtropical evergreen broad-leaved forest or subtropical coniferous and broad-leaved mixed forest. The foliar physiognomical analysis of the floristic composition showed that the species with entire leaf margines made up 38.3 percent of the total. The climate in the Eocene was estimated by means of climatic nomogram as follow: The mean annual temperature was 13.2 ℃ and annual temperature deviancy was 20℃. In the Oligocene flora, deciduous broadleaved trees were dominant, which indicated that the vegetation was of temperate deciduous broad-leaved forest or warm temperate coniferous and deciduous broad-leaved mixed forest. The species with entire leaf margines were 30. 8 percent with an estimated mean annual temperature of 11 ℃ and mean annual temperature deviancy of 25 ℃. The floristic aspect and climate in the Paleogene of Yilan region were very different from the present ones.     

Phytogeographical analysis of seed plant genera in China

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: A central goal of biogeography and ecology is to uncover and understand distributional patterns of organisms. China has long been a focus of attention because of its rich biota, especially with respect to plants. Using 290 floras from across China, this paper quantitatively characterizes the composition of floristic elements at multiple scales (i.e. national, provincial and local), and explores the extent to which climatic and geographical factors associated with each flora can jointly and independently explain the variation in floristic elements in local floras. METHODS: A study was made of 261 local floras, 28 province-level floras and one national-level flora across China. Genera of seed plants in each flora were assigned to 14 floristic elements according to their worldwide geographical distributions. The composition of floristic elements was related to climatic and geographical factors. KEY RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: Variations in percentages of cosmopolitan, tropical and temperate genera among local floras tend to be greater at higher latitudes than at lower latitudes. Latitude is strongly correlated with the proportions of 13 of the 14 floristic elements. Correlations of the proportions of floristic elements with longitude are much weaker than those with latitude. Climate represented by the first principal component of a principal component analysis was strongly correlated with the proportions of floristic elements in local floras (|r| = 0.75 +/- 0.18). Geographical coordinates independently explained about four times as much variation in floristic elements as did climate. Further research is necessary to examine the roles of water-energy dynamics, geology, soils, biotic interactions, and historical factors such as land connections between continents in the past and at present in creating observed floristic patterns.     

The Tertiary Vegetation and Flora and Floristic Regions in China

The development or adaptation radiation of angiosperms has been closely related to the paleoclimate and paleoenvironment. Several environmental factors, influencing each other, have affected the evolution or development of angiosperms, which falls into different stages. The lines between these stages are not consistent with the traditional geological ages. Floristic regionalization might be better based on the stages of the development. Angiosperms have become important or dominant elements in the flora since the middle and late period of the Late Cretaceous. The development of angiosperms may be divided into four stages: (1) Initial stage: The angiosperms were not yet well established during the Early Cretaceous. The number of species and individuals was limited, the leaf small, mostly with entire margine, irregular venation and poor differentiation of venation; (2) Flourished stage: The angiosperms increased dramatically and became abundant. The leaf was larger with more regular venation and the differentiation of venation was remarkable. The percentage of angiosperms was from 40%-60% in the flora, and eventually arose, becoming predominant, with important families well presented. This was probably from the Late Cretaceous to the Early Tertiary; (3) Herbs-Flourished stage: Some of woody plants were extinct, while herbs greatly increased, because of the changes in climate, sea level and mountain uplift during the Neogene period; (4)Quaternary stage: The mountain glacier in China, influenced by global glacial-interglacial alternation due to the climatic fluctuation, advanced and regressed during the Quaternary. The climatic fluctuation apparently affected the distribution of plants. But the components of the flora were similar to or slightly different from the features of the present one. The aim of the present paper is to discuss the floristic regions at the second and third stages. The Late Cretaceous-Early Tertiary stage: A. The Late Cretaceous-Paleogene flora of northern China 1. Warm-temperate to subtropical deciduous broad-leaved and conifer forests in North and Northeastern China 2. Dry subtropical flora of Northwestern and Central China B. Southern China Late Cretaceous-Paleogene flora 3. Deciduous and evergreen forests with coniferous elements in the subtropical coastal region of east China 4. Evergreen forests of South China 5. Evergreen forests of lower mountains in the Tethys The Neogene stage-Herbs-flourished stage: 1. Temperate forests and grasslands to semidesert-desert floras of northwestern China; 2. Warm temperate deciduous forests of north and northeastern China; 3. Warm temperate to subtropical deciduous and evergreen forests of central and east China; 4. Evergreen forests of the subtropical and tropics mangrove vegetation of south China; 5. Subtropical evergreen and deciduous forests on the Yunnan and Xizang plateau.     

中国西南干旱河谷植被的区系地理成分与空间分异

根据对云南、四川、甘肃三省九条主要河流干旱河谷的植物群落调查数据, 对我国西南干旱河谷维管束植物区系的科、属分布区类型进行划分, 并分析其地理分布格局。结果表明: (1)西南干旱河谷区的植物区系地理成分复杂, 联系广泛, 共包含11个科级和15个属级分布区类型; 总体上, 科、属两级热带/温带成分比例分别为3.06和1.77, 显示了强烈的热带区系亲缘及温带区系的后期影响; 与地中海-西亚至中亚植物区系存在一定联系; 其东亚成分和中国特有成分比例低于亚热带区系平均水平, 且中国-喜马拉雅成分比例高于中国-日本成分。(2)从西南向东北方向, 植物区系的热带性质逐渐减弱, 温带性质逐渐增强; 科、属水平区系成分与古地中海-中亚区系的相似性逐渐增强; 东亚和中国特有成分比例增加; 南盘江与元江的干旱河谷植物区系之间存在中国-日本和中国-喜马拉雅成分的分界线。(3)根据干旱河谷植物属区系成分的比例构成将怒江、澜沧江和元江与其他流域分开, 显示了长江溯源侵蚀和水系合并对西南诸河流植物区系发育的影响。     

Biogeographical Divergence of the Flora of Yunnan,Southwestern China Initiated by the Uplift of Himalaya and Extrusion of Indochina Block

The floral composition of Yunnan is conspicuously linked to the biogeographical history of this extremely species-rich province in southwestern China. The floristic compositions of three representative regions in Yunnan were compared to reveal their variation with geography. From southern Yunnan, 4150 native species (including subspecies and varieties) from 1240 genera and 183 families of seed plants were recognized. From central Yunnan 3389 native species from 1095 genera and 167 families of seed plants were recognized. From northwestern Yunnan 6807 native species from 1296 genera and 166 families of seed plants were recognized. Although these three floras across Yunnan are similar in familial composition, similarities between the floras of southern and northwestern Yunnan are low at the generic and specific levels. The flora of northwestern Yunnan is dominated by families and genera with cosmopolitan and north temperate distributions, while the flora of southern Yunnan is dominated by tropical families and genera. Northwestern Yunnan is composed largely of temperate genera, of which the highest proportion has a north temperate distribution. In contrast, southern Yunnan has mainly tropical genera, of which most have a tropical Asian distribution. The flora of central Yunnan is a combination of southern and northwestern Yunnan. These three floras might be derived from a common Tertiary tropical or subtropical East Asian flora, but the geological history of each region has influenced its flora, and they have remained divergent since the late Tertiary. The flora of northwestern Yunnan has evolved with the uplift of the Himalayas and by gradual proliferation of mainly cosmopolitan and north temperate floristic elements, while the flora of southern Yunnan has evolved with extrusion of the Indochina block and the influence of mainly tropical Asian elements.     

Cretaceous diversification of angiosperms in the western part of the Iberian Peninsula

The classic leaf fossil floras from the Cretaceous of the Lusitanian Basin, Portugal, which were first described more than one hundred years ago, have played an important role in the development of ideas on the early evolution of angiosperms. Insights into the nature of vegetational change in the Lusitanian Basin through the Cretaceous have also come from studies of fossil pollen and spores, but the discovery of a series of mesofossil floras containing well-preserved angiosperm reproductive structures has provided a new basis for understanding the systematic relationships and biology of angiosperms at several stratigraphic levels through the Cretaceous. In the earliest mesofossil floras from the Torres Vedras locality, which are of probable Late Barremian-Early Aptian age, angiosperms are surprisingly diverse with about 50 different taxa. In slightly later mesofossil floras, which are of probable Late Aptian-Early Albian age, the diversity of angiosperms is still more substantial with more than hundred different kinds of angiosperm reproductive structures recognized from the Famalicão locality alone. However, this early diversity is largely among angiosperm lineages that produced monoaperturate pollen (e.g., Chloranthaceae, Nymphaeales) and early diverging monocots (Alismatales). Eudicots are rare in these Early Cretaceous mesofossil floras, but already by the Late Cenomanian the vegetation of the western Iberian Peninsula is dominated by angiosperms belonging to various groups of core eudicots. The Normapolles complex is a particularly conspicuous element in both mesofossil floras and in palynological assemblages. In the Late Cretaceous mesofossil floras from Esgueira and Mira, which are of Campanian-Maastrichtian age, core eudicots are also floristically dominant and flowers show great organisational similarity to fossil flowers from other Late Cretaceous floras described from other localities in Asia, Europe and North America.     

AN INVESTIGATION OF DISTRIBUTIONAL PATTERNS IN THE DIATOM FLORA OF NETARTS BAY,OREGON, BY CORRESPONDENCE ANALYSIS1

Distributional patterns in assemblages of epiphytic and sediment-associated diatoms were investigated in Netarts Bay, Oregon. The method of reciprocal averaging revealed a floristic discontinuity between the epiphytic and sediment samples in ordination space. The basis for this discontinuity was the presence of a large number of sediment-associated taxa that were either very rare or not observed in the epiphytic samples. Within the sediment samples, the diatom flora formed a distributional continuum which had relatively high correlations with mean grain size, a sediment sorting coefficient, and the organic matter content of the sediment. A comparison of the flora in Netarts Bay with floras in other Oregon estuaries indicates that epiphytic, epilithic, and sediment-associated diatom assemblages do not exhibit conspicuous latitudinal changes along the coast of Oregon, and that many of the same taxa can be expected to occur in samples from comparable habitats in estuaries throughout the temperate regions of the world.     

Diversity in obscurity: fossil flowers and the early history of angiosperms

In the second half of the nineteenth century, pioneering discoveries of rich assemblages of fossil plants from the Cretaceous resulted in considerable interest in the first appearance of angiosperms in the geological record. Darwin''s famous comment, which labelled the ‘rapid development’ of angiosperms an ‘abominable mystery’, dates from this time. Darwin and his contemporaries were puzzled by the relatively late, seemingly sudden and geographically widespread appearance of modern-looking angiosperms in Late Cretaceous floras. Today, the early diversification of angiosperms seems much less ‘rapid’. Angiosperms were clearly present in the Early Cretaceous, 20–30 Myr before they attained the level of ecological dominance reflected in some mid-Cretaceous floras, and angiosperm leaves and pollen show a distinct pattern of steadily increasing diversity and complexity through this interval. Early angiosperm fossil flowers show a similar orderly diversification and also provide detailed insights into the changing reproductive biology and phylogenetic diversity of angiosperms from the Early Cretaceous. In addition, newly discovered fossil flowers indicate considerable, previously unrecognized, cryptic diversity among the earliest angiosperms known from the fossil record. Lineages that today have an herbaceous or shrubby habit were well represented. Monocotyledons, which have previously been difficult to recognize among assemblages of early fossil angiosperms, were also diverse and prominent in many Early Cretaceous ecosystems.     

Latitudinal and longitudinal barriers in global biogeography

Due to changes in climate and continental arrangement, plant and animal assemblages faced different dispersal barriers at different moments in Earth's history. It is generally accepted that groups which diversified during times of Gondwanan-Laurasian separation show different distribution patterns from those of more recent origin. Here I present principal component-derived maps for two globally distributed groups, with ca 1000 species each. Gymnosperm assemblages perfectly illustrate the existence of southern and northern components, corresponding to the Gondwanan and Laurasian temperate floras at the time when angiosperms started becoming dominant in the tropics, thus imposing a latitudinal barrier. Bat (chiropteran) assemblages indicate that the major biogeographical barrier in their Cenozoic dispersal was the longitudinal separation between the Old and New World.     

Bryophyte evolution and geography

The three extant Divisions comprising the bryophytes extend, as fossils, well back into Palaeozoic time. Bryophyte origin is part of the rise of terrestrial, vascularized, plants with sporopollenin-walled spores in the Silurian. Before the end of Carboniferous time, bryophyte lines were widely present. Separation of Gondwana and Laurasia by the Permian Tethys Sea and subsequent widespread desert episodes fragmented an already diversified bryoflora subjecting it to intense selective pressure. The cool, mesic climate of southern Gondwana provided a refugium for austral bryophytes. Warmer and drier climates of the Permo-Triassic Laurentian-Laurasia favoured drought-adapted or niche-specific groups creating marked systematic discontinuities. The Angaran wet, probably cool, temperate region provided refuge for basic stock for much of today's rich holarctic and wet ‘tropical’ bryofloras. Climatic changes, correlated with tectonic events and the rise of angiosperms, opened habitats favourable for a diversity explosion. Despite demonstrated potential for long-distance dispersal, modern distributions are mostly linked with total floras or establishment on islands prior to niche saturation. Remnants of Gondwanan bryoflora persist in high southern latitudes as disjunctions with the possibility that the folded ranges of the African Cape have been an insular fragment at higher latitudes becoming attached shortly after angiosperm diversification. Floras of southern India and east Africa have common features but the Himalayan flora shows evidence that the Gondwanan flora of the Indian plate was lost during the movement through desert and tropical latitudes; neotropical and palaeotropical floras are distinctive. Much of the northern Australian bryoflora is recently Malesian-derived while the southeast shows strong austral influence and commonality with New Zealand. Tropical Pacific island floras are mostly Malesian-derived but with both holarctic and austral elements present as in Hawaii and the Society Islands. Holarctic bryoflora is circum-polar with temperate areas of Euro-American and far eastern elements floristically bound by disjunct and vicariad species. Kroeber Coefficients of Correlation differ as Pacific island floras are compared and Guttman-Lingoes Smallest Space Coordinates indicates floristic subgroups within Polynesia. Although these and other mathematical treatments yield potentially promising results, the methods are yet unrefined and there is some uncertainty whether characteristics of numbers or of organisms are implicit in the summations.     

A phylogenetic perspective on the evolutionary processes of floristic assemblages within a biodiversity hotspot in eastern Asia

Abstract How to maximize the conservation of biodiversity is critical for conservation planning, particularly given rapid habitat loss and global climatic change. The importance of preserving phylogenetic diversity has gained recognition due to its ability to identify some influences of evolutionary history on contemporary patterns of species assemblages that traditional taxonomic richness measures cannot identify. In this study, we evaluate the relationship between taxonomic richness and phylogenetic diversity of angiosperms at genus and species levels and explore the spatial pattern of the residuals of this relationship. We then incorporate data on historical biogeography to understand the process that shaped contemporary floristic assemblages in a global biodiversity hotspot, Yunnan Province, located in southwestern China. We identified a strong correlation between phylogenetic diversity residuals and the biogeographic affinity of the lineages in the extant Yunnan angiosperm flora. Phylogenetic diversity is well correlated with taxonomic richness at both genus and species levels between floras in Yunnan, where two diversity centers of phylogenetic diversity were identified (the northwestern center and the southern center). The northwestern center, with lower phylogenetic diversity than expected based on taxonomic richness, is rich in temperate‐affinity lineages and signifies an area of rapid speciation. The southern center, with higher phylogenetic diversity than predicted by taxonomic richness, contains a higher proportion of lineages with tropical affinity and seems to have experienced high immigration rates. Our results highlight that maximizing phylogenetic diversity with historical interpretation can provide valuable insights into the floristic assemblage of a region and better‐informed decisions can be made to ensure different stages of a region's evolutionary history are preserved.     

三峡大老岭植物区系的垂直梯度分析

为探讨山地植物区系构成特征及其垂直梯度的生态意义,根据对三峡大老岭地区植被垂直样带 调查获得的植物区系资料,分析了该地区植物区系成分构成的基本特征及其随海拔梯度的变化趋势,寻找了区系平衡点的位置;并利用聚类方法分析了山地气候垂直分异对区系成分构成的影响。结果表明：①大老岭植物区系具有温带性质,但仍反映了与热带区系的历史联系,有强烈的区域性;②属的分布区类型可归为热带分布、温带分布、地中海—中亚中心和东亚中心4组,各组区系成分的垂直梯度特征不同;热带、亚热带成分与温带成分的平衡点大致位于海拔650m;③区系成分构成和属的物种数量构成的聚类分析结果一致显示了植物区系构成与山地气候和植被垂直带相对应的格局。     

Composition and dynamics of the great Phanerozoic Evolutionary Floras

Factor analysis of a data set representing the global distribution of vascular plant families through time shows the broad pattern of vegetation history can be explained in terms of five Evolutionary Floras. The Rhyniophytic (=Eotrachyophytic) Flora represents the very earliest (Silurian and earliest Devonian) vascular plants, notably the Rhyniophytopsida. The Eophytic Flora represents the early (Early–Middle Devonian) mainly homosporous land plants, notably the Zosterophyllopsida, Trimerophytopsida and early Lycopsida. The Palaeophytic Flora represents the Late Devonian and Carboniferous vegetation, which saw the introduction of heterospory among the spore producing plants and of early gymnosperms. The Mesophytic Flora first appeared in the Late Carboniferous and Permian macrofossil record, although there is palynological evidence of these plants having grown earlier in extra‐basinal habitats and was dominated by gymnosperms with more modern affinities. The Cenophytic Flora that first appeared during Cretaceous times was overwhelmingly dominated by angiosperms. The end‐Devonian, end‐Triassic and end‐Cretaceous mass‐extinction events recognized in the marine fossil record had little impact on the diversity dynamics of these Evolutionary Floras. Rather, the changes between floras mainly reflect key evolutionary innovations such as heterospory, ovules and angiospermy.     

横县野生种子植物区系及与附近地区的比较研究

为了解广西横县野生种子植物区系特征,对横县野生种子植物进行了调查分析。结果表明,广西横县有野生种子植物1 269种,隶属于163科658属,以被子植物占优势,而裸子植物则贫乏。在科属种组成上,以大科、区域单型属和少型属为主;生活型组成反映亚热带常绿阔叶林群落特征,藤本植物种类丰富。种子植物地理成分均以热带成分为主,兼备亚热带和温带成分。与邻近地区相比较,横县种子植物区系与广东紫金县相似性较高,区系成分组成则与广东新会区、紫金县相近。因此,横县地区野生种子植物种类丰富,热带性质明显,呈热带至亚热带过渡性质,起源古老,具有一定特有现象,与广东地区联系密切。     

湖北大洪山种子植物区系的研究

报道大洪山有种子植物１０５２种,隶属５１６属１４７科,在分析主要科的地理分布和全部属的分布区类型的基础上,认为温带属占主导地位,还讨论了该地区与我国其它１０个不同纬度山区植物区系的关系,并通过植物区系的属相似性系数的对比分析,讨论了该区系与华东,华中和华北植物区系的关系,得到大洪山属于华东植物区系的结论。     

Evidence of a Cooler Continental Climate in East China during the Warm Early Cenozoic

The early Cenozoic was characterized by a very warm climate especially during the Early Eocene. To understand climatic changes in eastern Asia, we reconstructed the Early Eocene vegetation and climate based on palynological data of a borehole from Wutu coal mine, East China and evaluated the climatic differences between eastern Asia and Central Europe. The Wutu palynological assemblages indicated a warm temperate vegetation succession comprising mixed needle- and broad-leaved forests. Three periods of vegetation succession over time were recognized. The changes of palynomorph relative abundance indicated that period 1 was warm and humid, period 2 was relatively warmer and wetter, and period 3 was cooler and drier again. The climatic parameters estimated by the coexistence approach (CA) suggested that the Early Eocene climate in Wutu was warmer and wetter. Mean annual temperature (MAT) was approximately 16°C and mean annual precipitation (MAP) was 800–1400 mm. Comparison of the Early Eocene climatic parameters of Wutu with those of 39 other fossil floras of different age in East China, reveals that 1) the climate became gradually cooler during the last 65 million years, with MAT dropping by 9.3°C. This cooling trend coincided with the ocean temperature changes but with weaker amplitude; 2) the Early Eocene climate was cooler in East China than in Central Europe; 3) the cooling trend in East China (MAT dropped by 6.9°C) was gentler than in Central Europe (MAT dropped by 13°C) during the last 45 million years.     

Hawaiian angiosperm radiations of North American origin

Background

Putative phytogeographical links between America (especially North America) and the Hawaiian Islands have figured prominently in disagreement and debate about the origin of Pacific floras and the efficacy of long-distance (oversea) plant dispersal, given the obstacles to explaining such major disjunctions by vicariance.

Scope

Review of past efforts, and of progress over the last 20 years, toward understanding relationships of Hawaiian angiosperms allows for a historically informed re-evaluation of the American (New World) contribution to Hawaiian diversity and evolutionary activity of American lineages in an insular setting.

Conclusions

Temperate and boreal North America is a much more important source of Hawaiian flora than suggested by most 20th century authorities on Pacific plant life, such as Fosberg and Skottsberg. Early views of evolution as too slow to account for divergence of highly distinctive endemics within the Hawaiian geological time frame evidently impeded biogeographical understanding, as did lack of appreciation for the importance of rare, often biotically mediated dispersal events and ecological opportunity in island ecosystems. Molecular phylogenetic evidence for North American ancestry of Hawaiian plant radiations, such as the silversword alliance, mints, sanicles, violets, schiedeas and spurges, underlines the potential of long-distance dispersal to shape floras, in accordance with hypotheses championed by Carlquist. Characteristics important to colonization of the islands, such as dispersibility by birds and ancestral hybridization or polyploidy, and ecological opportunities associated with ‘sky islands’ of temperate or boreal climate in the tropical Hawaiian archipelago may have been key to extensive diversification of endemic lineages of North American origin that are among the most species-rich clades of Hawaiian plants. Evident youth of flowering-plant lineages from North America is highly consistent with recent geological evidence for lack of high-elevation settings in the Hawaiian chain immediately prior to formation of the oldest, modern high-elevation island, Kaua‘i.     

辽西早白垩世义县组Ruffordia和Nageiopsis的发现及其地层意义

报道辽西义县组两种颇具地层意义的植物化石。Ruffordia goeppertii(Dunker)Seward和Nageiopsis exgr.samioides(Fontaine)berry,根据植物化石认为义县组的时代应属于早白垩世。     

河南太行山蕨类植物区系的研究

初步探讨了河南太行山蕨类植物区系的特点。该区系有蕨类植物 1 0 4种 ,隶属于 2 3科 4 8属 ,优势成分以蹄盖蕨科、鳞毛蕨科等系统演化上比较高级的类群为主。组成本区系的成分来源不同 ,以温带成分占优势 ,与河北、山西、北京地区的蕨类区系关系密切 ,与山东、秦岭、长白山、黄山、鼎湖山的相似程度渐低。这与中国现代蕨类植物地理分布规律相吻合     

World-wide latitudinal and longitudinal seaweed distribution patterns and their possible causes,as illustrated by the distribution of Rhodophytan genera

The degree of similarity between red algal generic floras in each pair of 22 climatically defined biogeographic regions was established on a world-wide scale by Jaccard's similarity index and by an hierarchical clustering with an agglomerative centroid method. Two clusterings were carried out, the first one on the basis of all 637 genera, and the second one on the basis of genera not occurring in the tropics and non-endemic to any one of the 22 regioms (145 genera). This latter clustering served to detect better the relationships among non-tropical floras. The results indicate the following division of the earth's rhodophytan seaweed floras: (1) A rich tropical-warm temperate "Tethyan" group including the rich tropical Indo W Pacific and W Atlantic floras, and the rich warm temperate NW Pacific and NE Atlantic floras; (2) the depauperate extensions of the above group (the tropical E Pacific and E Atlantic floras, and the warm temperate NW and SW Atlantic floras); (3) a cold temperate and a warm temperate N Pacific group; (4) an Arctic-cold temperate N Atlantic group and a NE Atlantic warm temperate flora; (5) an Antarctic-cold temperate southern hemisphere group including the cold temperate SE Pacific, SW Atlantic, SE Atlantic floras, and the Antarctic flora; (6) the two highly individual, but slightly related warm temperate SE Atlantic flora (S. Africa) and SW Pacific flora (Southern Australia and Northern New Zealand); (7) the depauperate warm temperate SE Pacific flora. Although the northern and southern hemisphere temperate and polar floras are quite unrelated (on the basis of genera lacking in the tropics), they share nonetheless a number of cool water genera which apparently have succeeded in passing the adverse tropical belt. The rich tropical-warm temperate group is thought to consist of vicariant portions of a formerly continuous Tethyan flora. The N Pacific and N Atlantic temperate floras are thought to have developed independently since the Oligocene (~ 40.10⁶ y) deterioration of the climate and to have partially mixed their cool water genera only after the Pliocene inundation (2.10⁶ y) of the Bering Land Bridge. The warm-temperate floras of S Africa and southern Australia probably owe their richness and individuality to a very long isolation (already at the start of the Cenozoicum) and a continued residence in warm temperate conditions with small seasonal fluctuations.Paper presented at the Seaweed Biogeography Workshop of the International Working Group on Seaweed Biogeography, held from 3–7 April 1984, at the Department of Marine Biology, University of Groningen (The Netherlands). Convenor: C. van den Hoek.