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This book will cover the entire evolutionary history that the terrestrial plants have recorded in Brazilian sedimentary rocks, ranging from the first vestiges of terrestrial environments colonization about 400 million years ago, until reaching the eve of the present time, when the current vegetation formations were organizing to reach their current distribution in modern biomes. At present Brazil is home to the world´s greatest plant biodiversity and we aim to offer here an opportunity to appreciate how this floral biodiversity originated and developed in these lowlands of South America, through chapters elaborated by the best Brazilian and foreign experts who dedicate to elucidate the evolution of the ancient flora in this part of the planet.

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Introduction: Historical overview of Palaeobotany in Brazil.- ECTION 1: PALEOZOIC.-1. First evidences of terrestrial plants in Brazil.-2. Plant diversification through the Middle Devonian in Brazil.- 3. Mississippian plants from the Parnaíba Basin.- 4. Origin and diversification of plants in Brazil during the Silurian-Mississippian interval: microfloral record.- 5. Pennsylvanian Ice Age Flora from the Paraná Basin.- 6. Diversity and growth forms of tree ferns in the Permian in Brazil.- 7. Growth architecture of calamitaleans of the Permian in Brazil.- 8. Arborescent gymnosperms of the Permian from the Parnaíba Basin.- 9. Petrified wood in the Permian of NE Brazil. Sedimentary environment and petrification pathways.- 10. Interactions among plants and other organisms in the Permian of the North East region of Brazil.- 11. Presence of callipterids in Parnaíba Basin and phytogeographic implications.- 12. Geoconservation of Permian Petrified Forests from the North East region of Brazil.- 13. Bryophytes from the Permian in Brazil.- 14. Permian lycophytes from the Paraná Basin.- 15. Diversity and stratigraphic distribution of sphenophytes in the Permian of the Paraná Basin.- 16. Ferns from the Permian of the Paraná Basin and their paleoecological interpretations.- 17. Record of glossopterid plants in the southern region of Brazil.- 18. Relictual elements and other rare taxa from the Glossopteris Flora in Brazil.- 19. Conifers and aliens forms in the Permian in Brazil.- 20. Wildfires in Permian strata in Brazil.- 21. Evidences of arthropod- plant interactions through the Permian in Brazil.- 22. Ice-hothouse transition and palynological evidences in Brazil.- SECTION 2: MESOZOIC.- 23. Petrified woods in the Triassic of the Southern region of Brazil.- 24. Corystospermales and aliens elements from the Paraná Basin.- 25. Conifers and other gymnosperms from the Paraná Basin in the Southern region.- 26. The Crato flora, a 110 Million years old window into the Cretaceous world of Brazil.- 27. The Crato lake deposits. Sediments to preserve an extraordinary fossil lagerstaette.- 28. Gnetophyte diversity in northern Gondwana.- 29. Conifers of the Early Cretaceous Crato flora with particular focus on whole-plant aspects.- 30. Angiosperms in the Early Cretaceous of northern Gondwana - a track record.- 31. Paleowildfires in the Araripe Basin: paleoenvironmental and paleoclimate implications.- 32. Ecosystem structure and trophic network in the late Early Cretaceous Crato biome.- 33. Insect-plant interactions in the Crato vegetation.- 34. Other Cretaceous floras of Brazil.- 35. Cretaceous microfloras of Brazil: paleoenvironmental and palaeoclimatic significance.- SECTION 3: CENOZOIC.- 36. Ancient tropical floras in South American lowland terrains at the beginning of Cenozoic.- 37. Going towards the modern Brazilian vegetation: Neogene floral records.- 38. Cenozoic palynological record in Brazil and paleoclimate significance.- 39. Reconstructing the Quaternary tropical floras from the palynological record in Brazil.- 40. Subtropical palynofloras: interpreting the climate changes during the Holocene in Brazil.- 41. Brazilian Quaternary floral record.

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