Paleogeographic Distribution of Early Devonian Plant Traits
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One problem in Early Devonian phytogeography is determining the extent to which regional taxonomic usage rather than differences in the distribution of fossil plants determine phytogeographic units. Because the same Early Devonian phytogeographic units can be delineated based on the paleogeographic distribution of either fossil genera or plants traits, this suggests that the observed phytogeography is real and not caused by regional taxonomic usage. Multivariate statistical techniques (cluster analysis and polar ordination analysis) were used to delineate phytogeographic units in this study. Multivariate analysis of generic data sets excludes unnamed plant fossils and single-locality endemics. The inclusion of many low-diversity assemblages can distort the results of a generic analysis. Trait analysis can include all the described plant fossils present in an assemblage. Because low- and high-diversity assemblages have similar numbers of traits, this method also masks diversity differences between assemblages. Trait analysis may thus yield better results than generic analysis for intervals with many single-locality endemics, unnamed plant fossils, or low-diversity assemblages. -from Author
