Bio

Plants display enormous diversity of forms today that, have evolved over geological timescales after plants successfully colonized land. Currently, I am interested in learning more about evolutionary changes in plant structures including specialized reproductive organs of seed plants. I study plant fossil record from deep time and living plants with the aim to develop a better understanding of origins of plant reproductive structures and drivers of morphological evolution in plants. Previously, I have looked at spore-pollen record preserved in sedimentary rocks from Canada. These microscopic fossils and their distribution in space and time can help us elucidate the response of vegetation to past extinction events.

Contact

  • Academic
    nidhip@stanford.edu
    University - Student Department: Earth & Planetary Sciences Position: Graduate

Additional Info

  • Mail Code: 2115

All Publications

  • Dacrycarpoides, a new genus of extinct Podocarpaceae (Coniferales) from the early Miocene of New Caledonia. American journal of botany Patel, N. U., Cantrill, D. J., Crane, P., Garrouste, R., Lowry, P. P., Maurizot, P., Munzinger, J., Leslie, A. B. 2025: e70041

    Abstract

    PREMISE: The archipelago of New Caledonia contains one of the world's most distinctive biotas. The presence of notable paleoendemics in this biota suggests that Gondwanan vicariance may have played an important role in its formation, but geological evidence indicates that New Caledonia was submerged until the Oligocene and that its flora formed from more recent long-distance dispersal events. The lack of a fossil record contributes to uncertainties inherent in both interpretations, but newly discovered fossil plant assemblages may help clarify the origins of the New Caledonian flora.METHODS: We used standard paleobotanical techniques to prepare and describe leafy conifer shoots from an early Miocene deposit (age ~19Ma) on the Pindai Peninsula of western New Caledonia. To determine affinities of the fossil material, we compared it to herbarium collections of extant New Caledonian conifers and the broader macrofossil record.RESULTS: Fossil leaves contain cellular-level details of leaf morphology and epidermis anatomy consistent with the conifer family Podocarpaceae, in particular the extant genus Dacrycarpus. However, stomata in the fossils are arranged in crowded complexes unlike those of any described Podocarpaceae taxon, and therefore we assign this material to a new extinct genus: Dacrycarpoides.CONCLUSIONS: New Caledonia is a hotspot of modern conifer biodiversity and was home to now extinct lineages as well. The presence of extinct conifers on Miocene New Caledonia is consistent with floras from neighboring landmasses and highlights the role of extinction in shaping the modern flora of New Caledonia and other Australasian landmasses.

    View details for DOI 10.1002/ajb2.70041

    View details for PubMedID 40366253

  • A maritime location reduced palynofloral turnover and extirpation across the end Cretaceous boundary interval on the west coast of Canada CRETACEOUS RESEARCH Patel, N. U., Mclachlan, S. S., Galloway, J. M., Greenwood, D. R., Pospelova, V. 2025; 166

    View details for DOI 10.1016/j.cretres.2024.106011

    View details for Web of Science ID 001332938900001