According to the latest research from the University of Bath in the UK and the National Autonomous University of Mexico, the mass biological extinction event 66 million years ago that led to the extinction of dinosaurs had a relatively small impact on flowering plants. Although some species went extinct, evolutionary lineages of flowering plants such as families and orders survived and then thrived, becoming the predominant type of plants on Earth today. 

 

There are about 400,000 plant species on Earth today, of which about 300,000 are flowering plants. Molecular clock evidence shows that most flowering plant families that exist today already existed before the K-Pg event, and ancestors of orchids, magnolias and mints coexisted with dinosaurs on Earth. By analyzing evolutionary trees constructed from DNA sequence variations of 73,000 flowering plant species and using statistical methods to estimate their extinction rates in different geological periods, researchers found that although many species went extinct, the major evolutionary lineages of flowering plants generally survived. 

 

Researchers believe that flowering plants have extraordinary adaptability, being able to disperse seeds and pollinate in various ways. Some species have undergone whole genome duplication, while others have evolved new pathways of photosynthesis. This “flower power” has made flowering plants the great survivors of life. After the K-Pg event, flowering plants seized the opportunity, just as mammals rose after the extinction of dinosaurs. Today, almost all life on Earth relies on flowering plants.