Flowering Plants Largely 'Unharmed' Despite Impact of Chicxulub Asteroid 66 Million Years Ago [Study]

Flowering plants were found to be largely "unharmed" despite the mass extinction event caused by the dinosaur-killing Chicxulub asteroid 66 million years ago, according to a new study led by researchers from Mexico and the United Kingdom.

Specifically, the findings suggest although the Chicxulub impactor wiped out almost all life on Earth, including flowering plants, it still allowed some major families called angiosperms to thrive in a post-apocalyptic world free of non-avian dinosaurs.

In previous research, scientists for a long time thought that the planet-killing asteroid during the end of the Cretaceous period (145 million to 66 million years ago) killed most animals and plant species, regardless of their lineages.

However, the said Mexico, US study shows that the mass extinction event could not kill higher lineages of flowering plants, in addition to the survival of avian dinosaurs, ancient mammals, and ancestors of living organisms that we know today.

Flowering Plants' Survival

(Photo : Photo by aisvri on Unsplash)

Flowering plants or angiosperms are vascular plants with leaves, stems, and roots that we see in our environment on a daily basis. These plants consist of thousands of species that bear flowers and fruits, including forbs, grasses, and grass-like plants.

In the study published in the journal Biology Letters on September 13, researchers Jamie Thompson from the University of Bath and Santiago Ramirez-Barahona from the National Autonomous University of Mexico discovered that there is no phylogenetic evidence of any angiosperm during the Cretaceous-Palaeogene mass extinction event.

In the case of flowering plants (Angiospermae), the researchers posed a major question in the context of macroevolution on whether the said extinction event was a factor in the rise of the angiosperms.

Also Read: Chicxulub Asteroid Impact Led to a 'Mega Earthquake' Lasting from Weeks to Months 66 Million Years Ago

Angiosperm Evolution

In a separate study published in the journal PNAS, its researchers cited Charles Darwin's perspective on angiosperm evolution. In particular, the English naturalist and proponent of the theory of evolution said that the sudden emergence of angiosperm in the fossil record was an "abominable mystery" and "perplexing phenomenon." He adds this is significant for people who believe in extremely gradual evolution.

The accounts of Darwin relating to angiosperms mean that this major family not only survived the Chicxulub mass extinction event but were able to dominate Earth, especially in the tropics and subtropics.

In addition to their remarkable evolution, flowering plants also pose an ecological importance in the natural habitats of different animals, from predators to herbivores and to the agents of pollination like honeybees.

Going back to the Biology Letters study, its author Thompson, during an online announcement by the University of Bath, stated angiosperms took the advantage after most of Earth's living organisms became extinction. Just like mammals, Thompson adds flowering plants thrived after the dinosaurs. He emphasized that currently, all life on Earth depends on these plants ecologically.

The study's research team arrived at their conclusion by examining major flowering plant lineages previously mapped from mutations of the DNA of thousands of species. This enabled the team to determine how flowering plants responded to the Cretaceous-Palaeogene mass extinction event.