Silicon (Si) is widely accepted as a beneficial element for plants. Despite the substantial
progress made in understanding Si transport mechanisms and modes of action in plants …

Background Opal phytoliths (microscopic silica bodies produced in and between the cells of
many plants) are a very resilient, often preserved type of plant microfossil. With the …

Phytoliths are silica casts of plant cells, created within and between living tissues across
almost all plant clades. Because they are abundant, durable and distinctive, phytoliths are …

This new edition of the definitive work on doing paleoethnobotany brings the book up to date
by incorporating new methods and examples of research, while preserving the overall …

Although climate change is considered to have been a large-scale driver of African human
evolution, landscape-scale shifts in ecological resources that may have shaped novel …

The earliest evidence of agriculture in the Horn of Africa dates to the Pre-Aksumite period
(ca. 1600 BCE). Domesticated C3 cereals are considered to have been introduced from the …

Accurate estimates of historical forest extent and associated deforestation rates are crucial
for quantifying tropical carbon cycles and formulating conservation policy. In Africa, data …

Phytoliths, microscopic plant silica bodies, are often preserved in modern and fossil soils
and sediment, as well as in archaeological contexts. They record unique characteristics of …

The assembly of Africa's iconic C4 grassland ecosystems is central to evolutionary
interpretations of many mammal lineages, including hominins. C4 grasses are thought to …

The main objective of this paper is to provide researchers that investigate fossil phytolith
assemblages and model/data comparisons a new tool for estimating C3/C4 grass …