OFR 151.pdf - CRC LEME

phenology. The method also provides an ecological basis for comparing plants from different
regions and times without having to assume phylogenetic relationships (cf. NLR
methodology). However, like many modern plants, fossil taxa are likely to have occurred in
more than one biome. In almost all instances the abundance of the parent plants will have
differed from one biome to another but this may or may not be reflected by pollen abundance
expressed in relative terms. Also, at least one major biome (Austral Conifer Forest) is extinct
and, during the Cretaceous and Early Tertiary, ferns may have dominated niches that are now
dominated by herbs such as grasses.
Palaeoecological research is often criticised for a "suck-it-and-see" descriptive approach that
is at variance with the hypothetico-deductive methodology, which underpins the physical
sciences. The generation of quantitative data and the application of innovative statistical
techniques developed for the Quaternary seems to provide an opportunity to objectively mine
the extant palaeobotanical database in ways that may assist end-users such as CRC-LEME.
121