The National Science Foundation has awarded Dr. Maria A. Gandolfo a $490,000, five-year grant for continuing her research on ancient biodiversity hotspots in southern South America and the evolution of highly diverse paleofloras in Patagonia.  This grant will support Dr. Gandolfo’s research endeavors in Argentina, including the taxonomic study of several ancient Patagonian paleofloras including La Colonia, Lefipán, Ormachea Petrified Forest, Las Flores, Laguna del Hunco and Río Pichileufú, ranging in age from the  end-Cretaceous extinction event (K-T boundary, about 65.5 million years ago) to the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (66-47 million years ago).

The project  continues a well-developed international collaboration that started many years ago  and includes Dr. Gandolfo’s colleagues Peter Wilf and Rudy Slingerland (Pennsylvania State University), Rubén Cúneo (Museo Paleontológico E. Feruglio, Argentina), and several collaborators from other institutions in the US, Argentina, and the Netherlands. The team is planning to address fundamental questions about: 1- changes in floral composition across the K-T boundary in Patagonia, which have never before been documented; 2- the composition and affinities of paleofloras 3- paleoclimatic aspects of the Patagonian region during global warming that occurred from the Paleocene to earliest Eocene (about 56 to 65.5 million years ago); and 4-biogeographic links between the floras of northern South America and Australasia via Antarctica. Understanding these factors is crucial for comprehending the origin of the flora of South America, and the history of plant diversification, ecology, biogeography, and climatic changes in the Southern Hemisphere.   

Dr. Elizabeth Hermsen, postdoctoral associate in Dr. Gandolfo’s lab and former L.H. Bailey Hortorium graduate student, is currently working with Dr. Gandolfo on the description of the Laguna del Hunco paleoflora, considered one of the richest paleofloras in the world. The main focus of this research is on documentation, description, and classification of reproductive organs (e.g., flowers, fruits), which generally provide more data on flowering plant relationships than do vegetative organs (e.g, stems, leaves, roots).