摘要: Significant plant extinctions occurred in south-eastern Australia during the Early Pleistocene. 45% of angiosperm and conifer macrofossil species in the Early Pleistocene Regatta Point site (western Tasmania) are distinct from any modern species. A few could have evolved into modern species, but most are totally extinct. In contrast, only one of the 60 or so Middle or Late Pleistocene macrofossil species from that region is extinct. Ecological data suggest that other species went extinct during the Pleistocene. Fossil pollen and macrofossils from a site in Central Victoria, Stony Creek Basin, confirm that there were large species turnovers after the Plio-Pleistocene boundary (see Sniderman; this volume). Significant Pleistocene plant extinctions also occurred in New Zealand.The detection of these extinctions depends on well-preserved macrofossils, which are uncommon. The extinctions are obscure in the fossil pollen record, because of pollen's poorer taxonomic resolution. Instead, some appear as range alterations of extant" species", genera or families.