Re: If the disaster was so big it killed the dinosaurs, why did plants survive

Dear Annemie:

Plants have various ways of recovering from natural disasters. One way is the seed. Seeds are very resistant to stress and, in some cases, can live in a dormant state for decades or centuries or longer. The soil is filled with dormant seeds awaiting their chance to germinate when light conditions become sufficient. After a natural disaster, when all the large plants perish, the naked soil receives more sunlight, and the dormant seeds germinate. Other plants will die back to the root following a natural disaster. Typically, these plants have fleshy taproots which store plentiful food needed for growth. When conditions return to normal, these fleshy taproots, protected underground, sprout new shoots.

Large, grazing herbivores would be especially vulnerable to the widespred death of leafy plants. Seeds and taproots would not have been very accessible to them. Can you imagine a Brontosaurus pecking at the soil like a bird? Small animals, especially warm-blooded animals with fur (the mammals), would be better able to find the seeds and survive the cold. Times were hard for all life after the impact, but especially so for the large dinosaurs, and they perished as a result.