Death of dinosaurs responsible for wine

The asteroid which struck the earth killing off the dinosaurs was responsible for the birth of wine, according to researchers.

The Chicxulub asteroid hit the earth some 66 million years ago, and it is now widely believed that the devastation and climate disruption resulting from the impact was the primary cause of the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event.

The resulting disruption killed off all non-avian dinosaurs and approximately 75% of plants and animal life. And now researchers have discovered that grapes arrived on the fossil record at the same time as the collision.

Fossils

The team from the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago discovered that there were fossilised grape seeds from 60 to 19 million years ago in the neotropical regions of Columbia, Panama and Peru.

The researchers described the “remarkably diverse” plant communities of the neotropics, and what they believe to be the “earliest evidence” of vitaceae – the flowering family from which grapevines originate – in the Western Hemisphere.

According to the study, published in the journal Nature Plants, it reveals how grapes evolved over time, and previously unknown dispersal events.

It said: “Our results indicate that regional extinction and dispersal have substantially impacted the evolutionary history of vitaceae in the neotropics.

“They also suggest that while the neotropics have been dynamic centres of diversification through the Cenozoic, extant neotropical botanical diversity has also been shaped by extensive extinction over the past 66 million years.”

Essentially, grapes were able to thrive because dinosaurs were no longer present to stamp on plants, trample through trees and destroy the plant life of the forest.

Thriving grapes

Without their presence, forests became more crowded and plant life was able to thrive, meaning that vine plants, including grapes, were able to climb through the trees and survive.

In addition, the new wildlife, including a diversified bird and mammal population, could have helped to spread the grape seeds.

Author of the study, Dr Fabiany Herrera of the Negaunee Integrative Research Center at the Field Museum, said that extinction event had a “huge impact on plants too”, as well as the dinosaurs.

Dr Herrera said the forest “reset itself” in such a way that it “changed the composition of the plants”.

“In the fossil record, we start to see more plants that use vines to climb up trees, like grapes, around this time,” he said.

So the next time you pour a glass, raise it to the heavens and a six mile wide asteroid.