Rolled liverwort mats explain major Prototaxites features: Response to commentaries

In volume 97(2) of the American Journal of Botany (pp. 268 - 275), we published an article entitled "Structural, physiological, and stable carbon isotopic evidence that the enigmatic Paleozoic fossil Prototaxites formed from rolled liverwort mats". Here, we respond to a letter and a commentary on our article in the present issue, welcoming this opportunity to continue the scientific dialogue about an issue that has long been stimulating and controversial. For the reader' s benefit, we first briefly describe the recent scholarly context of our article.