The extinction of dinosaurs and their role in the spread of grapes around the world

the Grapes These wines have been linked to human history for thousands of years, providing the basis for the wines our ancestors produced thousands of years ago – but this might not have been the case if wine dinosaurs They haven’t disappeared from the planet, according to new research.

When an asteroid hit Earth 66 million years ago, it wiped out giant animals and created conditions for other organisms and plants to grow.

Now, the breakthrough fossilized grape seeds In Colombia, Panama and Peru, the seeds, which are between 19 and 60 million years old, shed light on how these humble fruits flourished in Earth’s dense forests and eventually established a global presence. One of the newly discovered seeds is the oldest example of a grape-family plant found in the Western Hemisphere, according to the study published Monday (July 1) in the journal nature the plants.

“These are the oldest grape varieties ever found in this part of the world, and they are several million years younger than the oldest grape varieties found on the other side of the planet,” said Fabiani Herrera, the study’s lead author and a paleobotanist, in a statement.

“This discovery is important because it shows that after the extinction of the dinosaurs, grapes actually began to spread around the world.”

Like soft animal tissue, fruits don’t preserve as well as fossils. But seeds, which are more likely to fossilize, can help scientists understand which plants existed at different points in Earth’s history. The oldest grape seed fossils ever found were discovered in India and date back 66 million years, around the time the dinosaurs went extinct.

“We always think about dinosaurs because they were the biggest creatures affected, but the extinction event also had a huge impact on plants,” Herrera said. “The forest was rearranged in a way that changed the composition of plants.”

Herrera and study co-author Monica Carvalho were doing fieldwork in the Colombian Andes in 2022 when he discovered a fossil. It turned out to be a 60-million-year-old grape seed trapped in rock, one of the oldest seeds in the world and the first found in South America.

Encouraged by this discovery, the team conducted further fieldwork across South and Central America and found nine new species of fossilized grape seeds trapped within sedimentary rocks. By tracing the lineage of the ancient seeds to their modern grape seed counterparts, the team realized that something had allowed the plants to flourish and spread.

How ancient forests changed

When the dinosaurs went extinct, their absence changed the entire structure of the forests, the team hypothesized. “The large dinosaurs that roamed the forests probably cut down the trees, leaving the forests more open than they are today,” Carvalho said.

After the dinosaurs disappeared, the rainforests became lush and the layers of trees created a canopy (low vegetation) and a canopy. These dense forests made it difficult for plants to receive light, and Climbing plants The researchers said the creatures used their advantage to reach the dome.

“In the fossil record, we start to see more plants that use vines to climb trees, like grapes, around this time,” Herrera said.

Meanwhile, the diversity of birds and mammals that began to inhabit the Earth after the extinction of the dinosaurs may also have helped the spread of grape seeds.

with Information from: Modern grapes existed because dinosaurs went extinct, a new study finds. By Ashley Strickland, CNN