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Provides a comprehensive synthesis of modern evolutionary biology as it relates to plants. This text recounts the saga of plant life from its origins to the radiation of the flowering plants. Through computer-generated "walks" it shows how living plants might have evolved.
Many of the characteristics that distinguish plants from other living organisms can be traced to their bacterial origin early in the history of life. These features-such as a multicellular haploid life stage, prevalent hermaphroditism, self-fertilization, and general dependence on biotic and abiotic vectors for reproduction-stem directly from the plant's ability to obtain energy from the sun. This novel mode of energy capture had far-ranging implications for plant evolution. It not only fueled the tremendous diversification of life on Earth that followed, but also had far-ranging implications for the evolution of photosynthetic microorganisms and eventually for land plants. Understanding the evolutionary processes for the proliferation and diversification of plants requires an appreciation of their unique biological features. While the processes of mutation, selection, genetic drift, and gene flow remain the same for both plants and animals, there are specific characteristics of plants that modify the way their evolution is implemented. Unique traits of plants affect everything from the fate of mutations, through exposure to selection in a haploid life phase, to the distribution of genetic variation within populations, and ultimately the rates and patterns of diversification. This book examines the origins of the unique evolutionary features of plants, as well as their implications for evolutionary processes. Author Mitchell B. Cruzan provides contemporary discussion of subjects including population genetics, phylogeography, phylogenetics, ecological genetics, and genomics. The book fills a need for modern coverage of these topics, all of which are essential to a wide range of advanced courses in plant biology.
Although plants comprise more than 90% of all visible life, and land plants and algae collectively make up the most morphologically, physiologically, and ecologically diverse group of organisms on earth, books on evolution instead tend to focus on animals. This organismal bias has led to an incomplete and often erroneous understanding of evolutionary theory. Because plants grow and reproduce differently than animals, they have evolved differently, and generally accepted evolutionary views—as, for example, the standard models of speciation—often fail to hold when applied to them. Tapping such wide-ranging topics as genetics, gene regulatory networks, phenotype mapping, and multicellularity, as well as paleobotany, Karl J. Niklas’s Plant Evolution offers fresh insight into these differences. Following up on his landmark book The Evolutionary Biology of Plants—in which he drew on cutting-edge computer simulations that used plants as models to illuminate key evolutionary theories—Niklas incorporates data from more than a decade of new research in the flourishing field of molecular biology, conveying not only why the study of evolution is so important, but also why the study of plants is essential to our understanding of evolutionary processes. Niklas shows us that investigating the intricacies of plant development, the diversification of early vascular land plants, and larger patterns in plant evolution is not just a botanical pursuit: it is vital to our comprehension of the history of all life on this green planet.
Plant Development and Evolution, the latest release in the Current Topics in Developmental Biology series, highlights new advances in the field, with this new volume presenting interesting chapters on the Evolution of the plant body plan, Lateral root development and its role in evolutionary adaptation, the Development of the vascular system, the Development of the shoot apical meristem and phyllotaxis, the Evolution of leaf diversity, the Evolution of regulatory networks in land plants, The role of programed cell death in plant development, the Development and evolution of inflorescence architecture, the Molecular regulation of flower development, the Pre-meiotic another development, and much more. - Provides the authority and expertise of leading contributors from an international board of authors - Presents the latest release in the Current Topics in Developmental Biology series - Updated release includes the latest information on Plant Development and Evolution
Plant evolutionary ecology is a rapidly growing discipline which emphasizes that populations evolve and adapt not in isolation, but in relation to other species and abiotic environmental features such as climate. By combining approaches from the traditional evolutionary and ecological fields of study, evolutionary ecology is connected to branches of population biology, genetics, botany, conservation, and to other fields of applied science, primarily through shared concepts and techniques. However, other books regarding evolutionary ecology typically focus on animals, creating a substantial need for a synthesis of the scholarly literature with an emphasis on plants. Approaches to Plant Evolutionary Ecology is the first book to specifically explore the evolutionary biology of plant populations. Renowned plant ecologist G. P. Cheplick summarizes and synthesizes much of the primary literature regarding evolutionary perspective. The book also provides summaries of both traditional (common gardens, reciprocal transplants) and modern (molecular genetic) approaches used to address questions about plant adaptation to a diverse group of abiotic and biotic factors. Cheplick provides a rigorously written introduction to the rapidly growing field of plant evolutionary ecology that will appeal to undergraduate and graduate students with an interest in ecology and evolution, as well as educators who are teaching courses on related topics. -- from back cover.
This book places the wealth of data that have been collected on plants into the unifying framework of game theory.
Plant Evolution in the Mediterranean integrates a diverse and scattered literature to produce a synthetic account of plant evolutionary ecology. The central theme is differentiation, both among and within species in the contemporary flora of the Mediterranean basin. This approach is developed by attempting to link population processes to species evolution, and by examining the variation and evolution of ecological function in the context of spatial habitat variation and regional history. This accessible text explores the evolutionary processes which have shaped plant evolution in the context of these major influences on vegetation.
The first volume to address the study of evolutionary transitions in plants, Major Evolutionary Transitions in Flowering Plant Reproduction brings together compelling work from the three areas of significant innovation in plant biology: evolution and adaptation in flowers and pollination, mating patterns and gender strategies, and asexual reproduction and polyploidy. Spencer C. H. Barrett assembles here a distinguished group of authors who address evolutionary transitions using comparative and phylogenetic approaches, the tools of genomics, population genetics, and theoretical modeling, and through studies in development and field experiments in ecology. With special focus on evolutionary transitions and shifts in reproductive characters—key elements of biological diversification and research in evolutionary biology—Major Evolutionary Transitions in Flowering Plant Reproduction is the most up-to-date treatment of a fast-moving area of evolutionary biology and ecology.
Molecular Systematics and Plant Evolution discusses the diversity and evolution of plants with a molecular approach. It looks at population genetics, phylogeny (history of evolution) and developmental genetics, to provide a framework from which to understand evolutionary patterns and relationships amongst plants. The international panel of contributors are all respected systematists and evolutionary biologists, who have brought together a wide range of topics from the forefront of research while keeping the text accessible to students. It has been written for senior undergraduates, postgraduates and researchers in the fields of botany, systematics, population / conservation genetics, phylogenetics and evolutionary biology.
The genetic variability that developed in plants during their evolution is the basic of their domestication and breeding into the crops grown today for food, fuel and other industrial uses. This third edition of Plant Evolution and the Origin of Crop Species brings the subject up-to-date, with more emphasis on crop origins. Beginning with a description of the processes of evolution in native and cultivated plants, the book reviews the origins of crop domestication and their subsequent development over time. All major crop species are discussed, including cereals, protein plants, starch crops, fruits and vegetables, from their origins to conservation of their genetic resources for future development.