INRA, Bordeaux Sciences Agro, UMR 1391 ISPA, Villenave d'Ornon, 33882, France.
Ecol Lett. 2014 Oct;17(10):1326-38. doi: 10.1111/ele.12323. Epub 2014 Jun 29.
Multiple hypotheses have been put forward to explain the rise of angiosperms to ecological dominance following the Cretaceous. A unified scheme incorporating all these theories appears to be an inextricable knot of relationships, processes and plant traits. Here, we revisit these hypotheses, categorising them within frameworks based on plant carbon economy, resistance to climatic stresses, nutrient economy, biotic interactions and diversification. We maintain that the enigma remains unresolved partly because our current state of knowledge is a result of the fragmentary nature of palaeodata. This lack of palaeodata limits our ability to draw firm conclusions. Nonetheless, based on consistent results, some inferences may be drawn. Our results indicate that a complex multidriver hypothesis may be more suitable than any single-driver theory. We contend that plant carbon economy and diversification may have played an important role during the early stages of gymnosperms replacement by angiosperms in fertile tropical sites. Plant tolerance to climatic stresses, plant nutrition, biotic interactions and diversification may have played a role in later stages of angiosperm expansion within temperate and harsh environments. The angiosperm knot remains partly tied, but to unravel it entirely will only be feasible if new discoveries are made by scientific communities.
多种假说被提出以解释被子植物在白垩纪后如何在生态上占据主导地位。一个将所有这些理论结合起来的统一方案似乎是一个复杂的关系、过程和植物特征的交织。在这里，我们重新审视这些假说，将它们归类在基于植物碳经济、对气候胁迫的抗性、养分经济、生物相互作用和多样化的框架内。我们认为，这个谜团仍然没有解决，部分原因是我们目前的知识状态是古数据零碎性质的结果。这种古数据的缺乏限制了我们得出确凿结论的能力。尽管如此，基于一致的结果，还是可以得出一些推论。我们的研究结果表明，一个复杂的多驱动假说可能比任何单一驱动理论更适用。我们认为，在裸子植物被被子植物取代的早期阶段，植物碳经济和多样化可能在肥沃的热带地区发挥了重要作用。植物对气候胁迫、植物营养、生物相互作用和多样化的耐受性可能在被子植物在温带和恶劣环境中的扩张的后期阶段发挥了作用。被子植物的结仍然部分系着，但如果科学界有新的发现，完全解开这个结才是可行的。
