Christopher J. Cleal – författare

Special Papers in Palaeontology, published by The Palaeontological Association, is a series of substantial separate works conforming to the style of the Palaeontology journal. Two issues are published each year and feature high standard illustrations. This issue investigates the Hope Bay and Botany Bay, Graham Land, Antarctica which have yielded two of the most diverse floras known from the Jurassic.Presents a major revision of the Hope Bay flora, based on extensive subsequent collections.Brings together researchers, geologists and enthusiasts who continue to find material of significance.Highlights the need for reappraisal of a number of other Mesozoic Gondwanan floras that have been dated mainly on their close similarity to the Hope Bay flora.Includes 20 plates, 2 tables and 9 text-figures.

Plant remains can preserve a critical part of history of life on Earth. While telling the fascinating evolutionary story of plants and vegetation across the last 500 million years, this book also crucially offers non-specialists a practical guide to studying, dealing with and interpreting plant fossils. It shows how various techniques can be used to reveal the secrets of plant fossils and how to identify common types, such as compressions and impressions. Incorporating the concepts of evolutionary floras, this second edition includes revised data on all main plant groups, the latest approaches to naming plant fossils using fossil-taxa and techniques such as tomography. With extensive illustrations of plant fossils and living plants, the book encourages readers to think of fossils as once-living organisms. It is written for students on introductory or intermediate courses in palaeobotany, palaeontology, plant evolutionary biology and plant science, and for amateurs interested in studying plant fossils.