Some plants that people cultivate today are species that already existed in the time of the dinosaurs. This statement was made by researchers who analyzed how plants survived the event that wiped out giant reptiles 65 million years ago.
The research carried out by scientists from the University of Bath (United Kingdom) and the National University Autonomy of Mexico demonstrated that science already knew the impacts of the asteroid responsible for the extinction of the dinosaurs and 75% of the world's species.
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However, data on flowering plants (angiosperms) from this period were still uncertain. But they found that some of them were already present in this Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg) event.
To collect the data, the team analyzed trees that were created through mutations of DNAand examined 73 thousand species of angiosperms.
Then, using the “birth-death” statistical technique, they estimated extinction rates in geological time.
(Image: Unsplash/Reproduction)
This complex process proved that some species would, in fact, survive the catastrophic event. In fact, some of their ancestors, who currently live on Earth, adapted and evolved after the asteroid.
“Angiosperms took advantage, similar to how mammals took over after dinosaurs, and now Virtually all life on Earth ecologically depends on flowering plants,” said Jamie Thompson, one of the team’s researchers. scientific.
To achieve this evolutionary process, they adapted to the environment with scarce lighting and continued pollinating by wind and insects, as well as photosynthesis with the minimal light they found.
Therefore, over the years plants have undergone a significant evolutionary process, generating a variety of species.
“Some [plants] have duplicated their entire genome and others have developed new forms of photosynthesis,” explained Santiago Ramírez-Barahona, from the National Autonomous University of Mexico.
Therefore, researchers claim that the adaptability of flowering plants is what has promoted the species to this day, making them true “survivors of nature”.
Finally, many of those that lived during the dinosaur period 65 million years ago are ancestors of contemporary species.
However, these plants underwent a remarkable evolution during this period that created a fascinating biodiversity.
