Flowering Plants: The Resilient Survivors of Dinosaur Extinction

Flowering plants, known as angiosperms, managed to survive the mass extinction event that wiped out the dinosaurs, according to new research. While the extinction event, known as the Cretaceous-Palaeogene extinction event, had a devastating impact on animal species, it did not have the same effect on major flowering plant lineages. The study analyzed the evolutionary trees of thousands of living angiosperm species and found that although some species disappeared, the families and orders to which they belonged managed to survive and flourish. Flowering plants, with their diverse adaptations for pollination, are considered nature's true survivors and now represent approximately 78 percent of all terrestrial plant species.