We have wine because dinosaurs went extinct.

A new paper has been published in the journal Natural plants proves that the extinction of the dinosaurs, caused by the impact of an asteroid called Chicxulub about 66 million years ago, would pave the way for the spread of grapes. This conclusion was reached after the discovery of ancient grape seed fossils, aged between 60 and 19 million years, found in the rocks of the Colombian Andes. (The oldest known grape seed fossils were found in India, and are 66 million years old.)

Fossilized grape seeds

Researchers believe the spread of grapes may have been linked to environmental changes following the species’ extinction. Cretaceous-Paleogene that wiped out most non-avian dinosaurs and 76% of all living species on the planet. The aftermath allowed small mammals and some birds to thrive and laid the groundwork for grapes to flourish. But something else happened. Without dinosaurs chewing and felling trees left and right, This would allow the forests to become more lush, which would affect the entire flora of the ecosystem.

“We always think of animals, of dinosaurs, because they were the ones hit the hardest, but the extinction event also had a big impact on plants,” explained Fabiani Herrera, assistant curator of paleobotany at the Field Museum in Chicago and lead author of the study. . “The forest rebooted itself, changing the composition of plants. “This discovery is important because it shows that after the extinction of the dinosaurs, grapes really did start to spread around the world,” the expert says.

Botanical changes

So it seems no coincidence that grapes first appeared in the fossil record around the same time as the Chicxulub asteroid impact. The changes to forests as a result of their disappearance meant that forests filled in their crowns, became denser, and formed an understory and canopy that allowed vine plants such as grapes to grow through them. That is, its disappearance created a more favorable environment for grapes. In the same way, greater movement of small mammals and birds would have made it possible for grape seeds to spread very easily.

The oldest grape seeds are in South America

Researchers have identified nine new species of fossil grape varieties that were found in Colombia, Panama and Peru. The researchers carefully examined the ancient seeds using CT scans to reveal their internal structure. The shape, size and other morphological characteristics of the fossils showed that they belonged to a new species of grape.

“Around this time, we started seeing more plants in the fossil record that used vines to climb trees, like grapes,” Herrera says. “Grapes have an extensive fossil record that goes back about 50 million years agoso I wanted to find one in South America, but it was like looking for a needle in a haystack. “I’ve been looking for the oldest grape in the Western Hemisphere since my student years,” the expert explains.

Ancient fruits are often difficult to find because soft fruits do not fossilize, so experts look for seeds.

Researchers named the fossil Lithuania Susmania, “Susman’s stone grape” in honor of Arthur T. Susman, a proponent of South American paleobotany at the Field Museum. “This new species is also important because it confirms the South American origin of the group in which the common Vitis vine evolved,” said Gregory Stull of the National Museum of Natural History and a co-author of the study.

“The fossil record tells us that grapes are a very resilient group. They are a group that suffered greatly from extinction in the Central and South American region, but They have also managed to adapt and survive in other parts of the world.“, Herrera concludes.

Given the mass extinction our planet is currently facing, Herrera says research like this is valuable because it reveals patterns in how organisms evolve. biodiversity crisis“But what I also like about these fossils is that these small and humble seeds can tell us a lot about the evolution of the forest,” the expert concludes.

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