- Fossilised leaves from Assam's Makum Coalfield date back around 24 million years
- Leaves resemble modern Nothopegia plants found in the Western Ghats
- Himalayan rise altered northeast India's climate, causing Nothopegia to vanish there
Scientists have discovered fossilised leaves in Assam's Makum Coalfield, dating back around 24 million years, which have a unique connection to the Western Ghats. A research team from the Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeosciences (BSIP) in Lucknow studied the fossil leaves and found they closely resemble modern plants from the Nothopegia genus, according to the findings published in the journal Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology.
Researchers stated that Northeast India once provided a perfect home for Nothopegia, but over the course of millions of years, the landscape was altered, owing to monumental forces such as the rise of the Himalayas.
The movement of tectonic plates and the subsequent emergence of the mountain range in India's northernmost region led to sweeping changes in temperature, rainfall, and wind patterns. These geological upheavals cooled the northeast, rendering it inhospitable for many tropical plant species, including Nothopegia, which vanished from the region. However, to this day, the species has survived in the climatically stable Western Ghats, making it a living relic of an ancient ecological past.
"Fossil evidence from northeast India suggests that the genus once had a much broader range during the late Paleogene, thriving under equable climatic conditions similar to those found in its present habitat in the Western Ghats," the study highlighted.
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According to a statement by the Ministry of Science and Technology, by using advanced climate tools like the CLAMP method, the scientists found that northeast India had a warm and humid climate during the late Oligocene, akin to the climate in the Western Ghats today.
The study shows that extinction and migration due to climate change is not a new phenomenon. It has been happening and shaping our planet's biodiversity for eons.
"This fossil discovery is a window into the past that helps us understand the future," said study co-author Dr Harshita Bhatia, highlighting the need to protect biodiversity refuges like the Western Ghats, where ancient lineages continue to persist against the odds.
Recent studies predict that more than 60 per cent of tropical terrestrial endemic species may face extinction due to climate change, with the Western Ghats potentially losing all their endemic plants by 2050.
