Reconstructing Earth's environmental past over geologic timescales is a central challenge in paleoscience. A robust understanding of deep-time paleoclimate, paleoecology, and evolutionary dynamics depends on integrating multiple independent proxies that capture different facets of Earth’s complex systems. This paper reviews and synthesizes evidence from plant fossil records—particularly fossil leaves and resins—and their associated biomarkers, along with geological and paleogeographic data, to reconstruct past climates and ecosystems. By bridging fossil morphology with organic geochemical signatures, we provide a comprehensive framework for analyzing climate fluctuations, vegetation dynamics, and biotic responses to major global events across Earth history. We emphasize methodological innovations, discuss case studies across the Phanerozoic, and highlight ongoing challenges and future research avenues in this integrative field.
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No conflicts of interest are reported by the authors.
The author confirms sole responsibility for the following: study conception and design, data collection, analysis and interpretation of results, and manuscript preparation.
The authors did not receive any specific grants from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or non-profit sectors for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
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I express my gratitude to those who provided expertise and assistance throughout this study and manuscript preparation. Special thanks to the anonymous peer reviewers for their valuable feedback.
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