Palaeobotanical Perspectives on the Evolution of Land Plants on the Indian Subcontinent скачать в хорошем качестве

Palaeobotanical Perspectives on the Evolution of Land Plants on the Indian Subcontinent

Palaeobotanical Perspectives on the Evolution of Land Plants on the Indian Subcontinent Google Form Link: https://forms.gle/uqHjscHEH4Yf4fUF8 About the Talk: The evolution of land plants on the Indian subcontinent is closely linked to its complex geological history. The movement of the Indian Plate during the Paleozoic to Cenozoic Era resulted in considerable variability in its environment and ecology that shaped biotic and abiotic assemblies on the Indian subcontinent. The northward drift of the Indian Plate witnessed several geological events such as volcanic activities, the establishment and fragmentation of biotic contacts with adjoining continents, global climate change and eustatic sea level fluctuations that significantly influenced the diversification of terrestrial flora in the region. The present study summarizes the effect of climate and other geological factors on the evolution of land plants on the Indian subcontinent from the Paleozoic to the early Cenozoic Eras. About the Speaker: Dr. Vandana Prasad is a distinguished Indian palaeobotanist and former Director of the Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeosciences, Lucknow. She obtained her PhD in Botany in 1992 from the National Botanical Research Institute and University of Lucknow for her research on “Reproductive Biology of some oil yielding taxa.” She joined the Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeosciences in 1994 and has since made significant contributions to palaeobotany and evolutionary studies. Over a career spanning more than three decades, Dr. Prasad has worked extensively on evolutionary biology, high-resolution biostratigraphy, and palaeo-environmental reconstruction using fossil pollen as a key tool. Her research focuses particularly on fossil pollen preserved in rocks dating from about 65 to 23 million years ago, helping to reconstruct the deep-time palaeo-climatic history of the Indian subcontinent. Her pioneering contributions include the discovery of the earliest about 65 million years old grasses from India. She has also identified the origin of a 65-million-year-old wild rice from India. In addition, her research group revealed the evolutionary history of the Sal forests of Southeast Asia. In recognition of her scientific contributions, she received the Anna Mani Award for Women Scientist from the Ministry of Earth Sciences in 2021 and was elected a Fellow of the Indian Academy of Sciences, Bengaluru, in 2022. She has more than 65 articles to her credit in different peer reviewed journals and magazines. Internationally, Dr. Prasad has been associated with several prestigious scientific programs. She was a Visiting Scientist at the University Louis Pasteur in Strasbourg, France, in 1998. In 2007, she participated as a delegate in the 2nd Indo-American Frontiers of Science Symposium organized by the IndoUS Science and Technology Forum in partnership with the United States National Academy of Sciences in Irvine, California. In the same year, she was awarded the Smithsonian Fellowship to conduct research at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama. She has also led several research projects sponsored by the Department of Science and Technology and the Ministry of Earth Sciences.