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Articles in Palaeobotany /
Plant Evolution
Stephen T. Abedon, The Bacteriophage Ecology Group, Mansfield, Ohio State University, Columbus:
Evolution of Plants.
Brief lecture notes.
The link is to a version archived by the Internet Archive´s Wayback Machine.
!
K.L. Adams and J.F. Wendel (2005):
Polyploidy
and genome evolution in plants. In PDF,
Current opinion in plant biology.
Some references have been highlighted and annotated for recommended reading.
J.F. Allen and W.F.J. Vermaas (2010): Evolution of Photosynthesis. PDF file, In: Encyclopedia of Life Sciences (ELS), John Wiley & Sons.
N. Anantaprayoon et al. (2024): Evolution of the most species-rich family of simple thalloid liverworts (Aneuraceae): a time-calibrated perspective into its evolutionary history and diversification. In PDF, https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-2514207/v1.
! J. Anderson et al. (2007): Brief history of the gymnosperms: classification, biodiversity, phytogeography and ecology. In PDF, Strelitzia, 20, 279 p. See also here (abstract).
! J.M. Anderson et al. (1999): Patterns of Gondwana plant colonisation and diversification. Abstract, Journal of African Earth Sciences, 28: 145-l67. See also here (in PDF).
A. Andruchow-Colombo et al. (2023):
In
search of lost time: tracing the fossil diversity of Podocarpaceae through the ages. In PDF,
Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society.
See also
here.
A. Antonelli et al. (2015):
An
engine for global
plant diversity: highest evolutionary
turnover and emigration in the
American tropics. In PDF,
American tropics. Front. Genet., 6.
doi: 10.3389/fgene.2015.00130
See also
here.
!
E.M. Armstrong et al. (2023):
One
hundred important
questions facing plant science:
an international perspective. Open access,
New Phytologist, 238: 470–481.
"... we present the outcome of a global collaboration to
identify emerging plant research themes.
[...] Over 600 questions were collected from anyone interested in plants,
which were reduced to a final list of 100 ..."
! J.E. Armstrong and J. Jernstedt, The Botanical Society of
America, St. Louis:
Botanical
Society of America's Statement on Evolution.
See also
here.
Hank Art et al., Williams College, Biology Dept., Williamstown MA:
Field botany. Go to:
Evolutionary Botany.
Powerpoint download and links to aricles. See especially:
Early
Land Plants.
Fossil Angiosperms.
Introduction
to the Angiosperms.
Powerpoint presentations.
!
J. Asar et al. (2022):
Early
diversifications of angiosperms and their insect pollinators: were they unlinked? Free access.
Trends in Plant Science, 27: 858-869.
See also
here.
Note figure 1: Emergence of crown angiosperms and insect pollinators.
Figure 2. Phylogeny of seed plants, depicting pollination modes of both extinct and extant lineages.
L. Augusto et al. (2014): The enigma of the rise of angiosperms: can we untie the knot? In PDF, Ecology Letters.
F.J. Ayala, Walter M. Fitch, and Michael T. Clegg (eds.; 2000):
Variation and Evolution in Plants and Microorganisms: Toward a New Synthesis 50 Years after Stebbins.
Online book, National Academy of Sciences (2000).
This expired link is now available through the Internet Archive´s
Wayback Machine.
See also
here
S.-N. Bai (2017): Reconsideration of Plant Morphological Traits: From a Structure-Based Perspective to a Function-Based Evolutionary Perspective. Front. Plant Sci., 8: 345.
J. Barba-Montoya et al. (2018):
Constraining
uncertainty in the timescale of angiosperm evolution and the veracity of a Cretaceous
Terrestrial Revolution. In PDF,
New Phytologist, 218: 819-834.
See also
here.
Note fig. 6: The time tree of tracheophytes encompassing uncertainty of
calibration strategies.
"... We reject a post-Jurassic origin of angiosperms, supporting the notion of a
cryptic early history of angiosperms ..."
E. Barley and K. Fitzpatrick, lecture presentation for
Campbell Biology, ninth edition:
Plant
Diversity I: How Plants Colonized Land.
Powerpoint presentation, Chapter 29, Jane B. Reece et al., for Cambell Biology, Ninth Edition
(by Victor Wong,
Houston Community College, USA).
Plant
Diversity II: The Evolution of Seed Plants.
Powerpoint presentation.
Still available through the Internet Archive´s
Wayback Machine.
Dave Barrington, The Barrington Lab at the University of Vermont:
An
Overview of Land Plant Evolution. Lecture notes,
Powerpoint presentation.
See also
here
and there.
J. Barros et al. (2015): The cell biology of lignification in higher plants. Free access, Annals of Botany, 115: 1053–1074.
C.C. Baskin and J.M. Baskin (2023):
The
rudimentary embryo: an early angiosperm invention that contributed to their
dominance over gymnosperms. Free access,
Seed Science Research, 33: 63–74. https://doi.org/10.1017/
S0960258523000168.
Note table 1:
Information about fossil ovules, seeds and embryos of gymnosperms from the Upper
Devonian to Late Cretaceous.
"... we explore the origin of the rudimentary embryo, its relationship to other kinds
of plant embryos and its role in the diversification of angiosperms.
[...] We conclude that the rudimentary embryo was one
of many new developments of angiosperms that contributed to their great success on earth ..."
R.M. Bateman (2020): Hunting the Snark: the flawed search for mythical Jurassic angiosperms. In PDF, Journal of Experimental Botany, 71: 22–35. See also here.
! R.M. Bateman et al. (1998): Early evolution of land plants: phylogeny, physiology, and ecology of the primary terrestrial radiation. PDF file, Annu. Rev. Ecol. Syst., 29: 263-292. Website saved by the Internet Archive´s Wayback Machine.
! R.M. Bateman and W.A. DiMichele (1994): Heterospory: the most iterative key innovation in the evolutionary history of the plant kingdom. In PDF, Biological Reviews.
BBC News, Friday, 3 May, 2002: "Oldest flower" found in China.
G. Beaugrand (2023): Towards an Understanding of Large-Scale Biodiversity Patterns on Land and in the Sea. Free access, Biology, 12. https://doi.org/10.3390/biology12030339.
J.M. Beaulieu et al. (2015): Heterogeneous rates of molecular evolution and diversification could explain the Triassic age estimate for angiosperms. Abstract.
! B. Becker and B. Marin (2009): Streptophyte algae and the origin of embryophytes. In PDF, Annals of Botany, 103: 999–1004. See also here.D.J. Beerling (2013): Atmospheric carbon dioxide: a driver of photosynthetic eukaryote evolution for over a billion years? In PDF, Philos. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. B, Biol. Sci., 367: 477-482.
! D. Beerling (2010): The Emerald Planet. How Plants Changed Earth´s History. In PDF.
D.J. Beerling and R.A. Berner (2005): Feedbacks and the coevolution of plants and atmospheric CO2. In PDF, PNAS, 102.
! C.D. Bell et al. (2010): The age and diversification of the angiosperms re-revisited. Free access, American Journal of Botany, 97: 1296-1303.
A. Bennici (2008): Origin and early evolution of land plants: Problems and considerations. Free access, Commun. Integr. Biol., 1: 212-218.
!
M.J. Benton and F. Wu (2022):
Triassic
revolution. Free access,
Frontiers in Earth Science, 10. See also
here.
Note figure 9: Novel physiological and functional characteristics, new tetrapod,
insect and plant groups in the Triassic on land.
"... On land, ongoing competition between synapsids and
archosauromorphs through the Triassic was marked by a posture shift from sprawling
to erect, and a shift in physiology to warm-bloodedness, with insulating skin coverings of
hair and feathers. Dinosaurs, for example, originated in the Early or Middle Triassic,
but did not diversify until after the CPE [Carnian Pluvial Episode]. ..."
!
M.J. Benton et al. (2022):
The
Angiosperm Terrestrial Revolution and the origins of modern biodiversity. Free access,
New Phytologist, 233: 2017–2035.
Note fig. 1: Evolution of hyperdiverse terrestrial life.
Fig. 3: Key stages in Earth history and angiosperm evolution through
the Angiosperm Terrestrial Revolution.
Also worth checking out:
Flowering
plants: an evolution revolution.
(Univ. of Bristol, November 17, 2021).
How
'Flower Power' Quite Literally Transformed Earth Millions of Years Ago
(by T. Koumoundouros, January 08,2022).
!
H. Beraldi-Campesi (2013):
Early
life on land and the first terrestrial ecosystems. In PDF,
Ecological Processes, 2. See also
here.
Note figure 1: Suggested chronology of geological, atmospheric, and biological events during the Hadean,
Archean, and Paleoproterozoic
eons.
!
M. Berbee et al. (2020).
Genomic
and fossil windows into the secret lives of the most ancient fungi. In PDF,
Nature Reviews Microbiology, 18: 717-730. 10.1038/s41579-020-0426-8.
See also
here.
"... Inferences can be drawn from evolutionary analysis by comparing the genes and genomes of fungi
with the biochemistry and development of their plant and algal hosts. We then contrast this emerging
picture against evidence from the fossil record to develop a new, integrated perspective on the
origin and early evolution of fungi ..."
! Museum of Paleontology (UCMP), University of California at Berkeley, Plantae, Fossil Record: Chart of First Appearances of Major Plant Groups. Each of the taxonomic plant groups in pink boxes can be clicked upon to take you to an introduction.
Botanischer Garten und Botanisches Museum Berlin:
Von
Nacktpflanzen und Schuppenbäumen.
Ein Streifzug durch die Entwicklungsgeschichte der Pflanzen (in German).
Easy to understand introduction.
! R.A. Berner et al. (2007): Oxygen and evolution. In PDF, Science, 316. Website saved by the Internet Archive´s Wayback Machine.
Robert A. Berner, Geology and Geophysics, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut: The Rise of Plants and Their Effect on Weathering and Atmospheric CO2 (now via wayback archive). See also here.
Michael Bernstein, Washington and New Orleans, March 21-27, 2003: (American Chemical Society, EurekAlert): Scientists find evidence for crucial root in the history of plant evolution.
! C.M. Berry (2019): Palaeobotany: The Rise of the Earth’s Early Forests. Free access, Current Biology, 29: R792-R794. See also here (in PDF).
! J.A. Berry et al. (2010): Stomata: key players in the earth system, past and present. Abstract, Current opinion in plant biology, 13: 232–239. See also here (in PDF).
S. Bhadra et al. (2023):
From
genome size to trait evolution during angiosperm radiation. In PDF,
Trends in Genetics.
See likewise
here.
Note figure 1: Schematic representation illustrating the relationship between
genome size change and trait
evolution.
! M.I. Bidartondo et al. (2011): The dawn of symbiosis between plants and fungi. In PDF, Biology Letters. See also here.
E. Biffin et al. (2013): Leaf evolution in Southern Hemisphere conifers tracks the angiosperm ecological radiation. In PDF, Proc. R. Soc. B, 279: 341-348.
A.C. Bippus et al. (2022):
The
Role of Paleontological Data in Bryophyte Systematics. Abstract,
Journal of Experimental Botany.
"... Paucity of the bryophyte fossil record, driven primarily by phenotypic
(small plant size) and ecological constraints (patchy substrate-hugging populations), and
incomplete exploration, results in many morphologically isolated, taxonomically
ambiguous fossil taxa. Nevertheless, instances of exquisite preservation and pioneering
studies demonstrate the feasibility of including bryophyte fossils in
evolutionary inference. ..."
H.J.B. Birks (2020): Angiosperms versus gymnosperms in the Cretaceous. Open access, PNAS, 117: 30879-30881.
B. Blonder et al. (2011): Venation networks and the origin of the leaf economics spectrum. In PDF, Ecology Letters, 14: 91-100. See also here.
B. Bomfleur et al. (2018):
Polar
Regions of the Mesozoic-Paleogene
Greenhouse World as Refugia for Relict
Plant Groups. Chapter 24, in PDF, in:
M. Krings, C.J. Harper, N.R. Cuneo and G.W. Rothwell (eds.): Transformative
Paleobotany Papers to
Commemorate the Life and Legacy of Thomas N. Taylor.
Note figure 24.2: Distribution of Dicroidium through space and time.
W.J. Bond and A.C. Scott (2010): Fire and the spread of flowering plants in the Cretaceous. In PDF, New Phytologist, 188: 1137-1150.
Boston College:
BC Scientist´s
Fossil Discovery May Indicate Life on Land Evolved Earlier than Thought.
The link is to a version archived by the Internet Archive´s Wayback Machine.
!
A.M.C. Bowles et al. (2023):
The
origin and early evolution of plants. Open access,
Trends in Plant Science, 28.
Note figure 2: Phylogeny of early plant evolution with a selection of available genomic resources.
Figure 3: Fossils of possible and probable early archaeplastids.
!
Figure 4: Summary of molecular estimates for the timescale of archaeplastid evolution.
"... Molecular clock analyses estimate that Streptophyta and Viridiplantae emerged
in the late Mesoproterozoic to late Neoproterozoic, whereas Archaeplastida
emerged in the late-mid Palaeoproterozoic ..."
!
J.L. Bowman et al. (2022):
The
renaissance and enlightenment of Marchantia as a model system. Open access,
The Plant Cell, koac219.
See also
https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=de&as_sdt=0%2C5&q=The+Renaissance+and+Enlightenment+of+Marchantia+as+a+model+system&btnG=.
Note fig. 1: Phylogenetic history of Marchantia plotted against the geologic timescale.
Figure 2. Life cycle of Marchantia polymorpha.
J.L. Bowman et al. (2017): Insights into Land Plant Evolution Garnered from the Marchantia polymorpha Genome. Abstract, Cell, 171: 287-304. See also here (in PDF).
C.K. Boyce and J.-E. Lee (2017): Plant Evolution and Climate over Geological Timescales. Abstract, Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences, 45.
C.K. Boyce and M.A. Zwieniecki (2019): The prospects for constraining productivity through time with the whole-plant physiology of fossils Open access, New Phytologist, 223: 40–49.
C.K. Boyce and A.B. Leslie (2012):
The
Paleontological Context of Angiosperm Vegetative Evolution. In PDF,
International Journal of Plant Sciences, 173: 561–568.
See also
here.
"... a survey of the fossil record demonstrates that most anatomical traits
that are now unique to the angiosperms were more broadly distributed among extinct lineages.
[...] Of all the various vegetative morphological traits that have
been traditionally linked to angiosperm success, only the evolution of very high
leaf vein densities appears to be truly
unique to the angiosperms. ..."
C.K. Boyce and M.A. Zwieniecki (2012): Leaf fossil record suggests limited influence of atmospheric CO2 on terrestrial productivity prior to angiosperm evolution. Free access, PNAS, 109: 10403–10408.
! C.K. Boyce (2010): The evolution of plant development in a paleontological context. In PDF Current Opinion in Plant Biology, 13: 102-107.
C. Kevin Boyce et al. (2009). Angiosperm leaf vein evolution was physiologically and environmentally transformative. PDF file, Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 276: 1771-1776. See also here (abstract).
!
C.K. Boyce (2008):
How
green was Cooksonia? The importance of size in understanding the early evolution
of physiology in the vascular plant lineage. In PDF,
Paleobiology, 34: 179–194.
See likewise
here.
C.K. Boyce, (2001):
PATTERNS OF MORPHOLOGICAL EVOLUTION
IN THE LEAVES OF FERNS
AND SEED PLANTS.
Abstract, GSA Annual Meeting, November 5-8, 2001.
Snapshot provided by the Internet Archive´s Wayback Machine.
!
Jamie Boyer, The
New York Botanical Garden:
What
is Paleobotany?. Also worth checking out:
Plant
Evolution & Paleobotany.
An educational resource for students and teachers studying Earth's history, fossils, and evolution.
!
Go to:
Paleobotany
Short-Course. Lecture notes.
Paleobotany
Overview; Life moves to land.
Plant
classification.
Rise
of Seed Plants.
Rise
of flowering plants.
Excellent!
J. Boyer (2008): Testing the Telome Concept: A Modeling Approach for Understanding the Growth of Early Vascular Plants. In PDF, Ph.D. Dissertation, Binghamton University State University of New York.
J.D. Boyko et al. (2023):
The
evolutionary responses of life-history strategies to climatic variability in flowering plants. Free access,
New Phytologist, doi: 10.1111/nph.18971.
See also
here
(in PDF).
Note figure 1: Global distribution of vascular plant diversity and proportion of annual plants.
! M. Brasier et al. (2006): A fresh look at the fossil evidence for early Archaean cellular life. In PDF, Philos. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. B, Biol Sci., 361: 887–902. See also here.
J. Bres et al. (2021):
The
Cretaceous physiological adaptation of angiosperms to a
declining pCO2: a modeling approach emulating paleo-traits.
Free access, Biogeosciences, 18: 5729–5750.
"... we show that protoangiosperm
physiology does not allow vegetation to grow
under low pCO2
[...] confirms the hypothesis of a likely
evolution of angiosperms from a state of low leaf hydraulic
and photosynthetic capacities at high pCO2 to a state of high
leaf hydraulic and photosynthetic capacities linked to leaves
with more and more veins together ..."
J.C. Briggs (2014): Invasions, adaptive radiations, and the generation of biodiversity. In PDF, Environmental Skeptics and Critics, 3: 8-16.
The palaeofiles. Articles
here have all been
prepared by students on the palaeobiology programmes in Bristol:
!
Purported
Triassic angiosperms.
Now provided by the Internet Archive´s Wayback Machine.
The palaeofiles. Articles
here have all been
prepared by students on the palaeobiology programmes in Bristol:
!
The
origin
and evolution of angiosperms.
Now provided by the Internet Archive´s Wayback Machine.
T.J. Brodribb and S.A.M. McAdam (2017): Evolution of the stomatal regulation of plant water content. Open access, Plant Physiology, 175: 639–649.
! Stephen P. Broker,
Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute:
The
Evolution of Plants.
Snapshot taken by the Internet Archive´s Wayback Machine.
The evolution of plants is briefly treated primarily in terms of a consideration of the
concepts of time and change, and an
appreciation of the great diversity of life on earth today (without images).
Recommended for Biology, 9th and 10th grade level, and Botany,
11th and 12th grade level.
!
N. Brocklehurst et al. (2020):
The
origin of tetrapod
herbivory: effects on local plant diversity. Free access,
Proc. R. Soc. B 287: 20200124.
"... findings suggest that plant richness was to some extent structured
by vertebrate herbivory from its earliest origins more
than 300 Mya. Studies of modern ecosystems suggest that
this should be the case, ..."
J.W. Brown and S.A. Smith (2017): The Past Sure Is Tense: On Interpreting Phylogenetic Divergence Time Estimates. See also here (in PDF).
M.C. Brundrett (2002):
Coevolution
of roots and mycorrhizas of land plants. In PDF,
New phytologist, 154: 275-304.
Provided by the Internet Archive´s Wayback Machine.
Neil Buckley, Department of Biological Sciences, SUNY Plattsburgh, Plattsburgh, NY:
Bio 102 General
Biology II Class Notes.
Powerpoint presentations. Go to:
An
overview of Plant Evolution.
Key Moments in the life of Kingdom Plantae.
Websites still available via Internet Archive Wayback Machine.
G.E. Budd et al. (2021): Fossil data do not support a long pre-Cretaceous history of flowering plants. Free access, bioRxiv.
G.E. Budd et al. (2021): The use of geological and paleontological evidence in evaluating plant phylogeographic hypotheses in the Northern Hemisphere Tertiary. Free access, biorxiv.org. See also here (in PDF).
R.J.A. Buggs (2021): The origin of Darwin’s “abominable mystery”. Free access, American Journal of Botany, 108: 22–36.
R.J. Burnham (2008): Hide and Go Seek: What Does Presence Mean in the Fossil Record. Abstract, Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden, 95: 51-71. See also here (in PDF).
Alison Campbell et al., Biology & Earth Science, The University of Waikato, New Zealand: Evolution for Teaching. This website has been developed to provide a web based resource for use by secondary teachers, especially in the science fields of evolution and geological time. Go to: Plant and Animal Evolution.
P.D. Cantino et al. (2007): Towards a phylogenetic nomenclature of Tracheophyta. PDF file, Taxon, 56: 822-846. See also here.
!
E. Capel et al. (2022):
The
Silurian–Devonian terrestrial revolution: Diversity patterns and sampling bias of
the vascular plant macrofossil record. In PDF,
Earth-Science Reviews, 231.
See also
here.
Note fig. 6: Silurian–Devonian diversity patterns of tracheophytes.
"... The sampling-corrected pattern of standing diversity suggests a clear increase of plant
richness in the Pragian (Early Devonian) and Givetian (Middle Devonian) ..."
E. Capel et al. (2023):
The
effect of geological biases on our perception of early land plant radiation. Free access,
Palaeontology, 66.
"... geological incompleteness remains a fundamental bias for describing
early plant diversification. This indicates that, even when sampling
is extensive, observed diversity patterns potentially
reflect the heterogeneity of the rock record, which blurs our
understanding of the early history of land vegetation ..."
E. Capel et al. (2021): A factor analysis approach to modelling the early diversification of terrestrial vegetation. In PDF, Palaeogeography,Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. See also here.
Sean Carrington, Department of Biological & Chemical Sciences,
University of the West Indies (UWI), Barbados:
The Plant Kingdom.
An introduction to the world of plants from an evolutionary perspective.
Have a look for handouts and PDF files,
or
navigate from here.
Websites still available via Internet Archive Wayback Machine.
!
M.R. Carvalho et al. (2021):
Extinction
at the end-Cretaceous and the origin of modern Neotropical rainforests
Science, 372: 63–68. See also
here
(in PDF).
"... Plant diversity declined
by 45% at the Cretaceous–Paleogene boundary and did not recover for ~6 million years. ..."
Please take notice:
Wie
der Asteroid den Regenwald prägte. Wissenschaft.de, in German.
! B. Cascales-Miñana et al. (2019): An alternative model for the earliest evolution of vascular plants. Abstract, Lethaia, 52: 445–453. See also here (in PDF).
! B. Cascales-Miñana and C.J. Cleal (2013): The plant fossil record reflects just two great extinction events. Abstract. See also here (in PDF).
B. Cascales-Miñana and J.B. Diez (2012): The effect of singletons and interval length on interpreting diversity trends from the palaeobotanical record. In PDF, Palaeontologia Electronica.
David D. Cass, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta:
Earliest Evidence of Flowering Plants.
32 slides.
Website outdated. The link is to a version archived by the Internet Archive´s Wayback Machine.
S.R.S. Cevallos-Ferriz et al. (2022):
Paleobotany
to understand evolution and biodiversity in Mexico. In PDF,
Botanical Sciences, 100 (Special Issue): S34-S65.
See also
here.
! A.S. Chanderbali et al. (2016): Evolving Ideas on the Origin and Evolution of Flowers: New Perspectives in the Genomic Era. In PDF, Genetics, 202: 1255–1265. See also here.
University of Virginia, Charlottesville:
!
Evolution
of Land Plants.
Powerpoint presentation.
Still available via Internet Archive Wayback Machine.
! J. Chave et al. (2009): Towards a worldwide wood economics spectrum. In PDF, Ecology Letters, 12: 351–366.
S.M. Chaw et al. (1997): Molecular phylogeny of extant gymnosperms and seed plant evolution: analysis of nuclear 18S rRNA sequences. In PDF.
(?), University of Virginia, Charlottesville:
!
Evolution
of Land Plants.
Powerpoint presentation.
This expired link is still available through the Internet Archive´s
Wayback Machine.
G. Chen et al. (2024):
Stomatal
evolution and plant adaptation to future climate. Open access,
Plant Cell Environ.
"Global climate change is affecting plant photosynthesis and transpiration processes, as
well as increasing weather extremes
[...] novel stomatal development specific genes were acquired during plant evolution,
whereas genes regulating stomatal movement, especially cell signaling pathways, were
inherited ancestrally and co-opted by dynamic functional differentiation ..."
!
M.J.M. Christenhusz et al. (2021):
Biogeography
and genome size evolution of the oldest extant vascular
plant genus, Equisetum (Equisetaceae). Free access,
Annals of Botany, 127: 681–695.
Note figure 2: Tree of Equisetum.
Figure 3: Spatiotemporal evolution of Equisetum.
"... With a calculated age of 342 Mya, we place the
origin of the ancestor of the extant members of Equisetaceae
in the Early Carboniferous, with Equisetum evolving at some
point after that, probably soon, but definitely before 175 Mya,
making it possibly the oldest extant genus of vascular plants. ..."
! T.Y.S. Choo and I.H. Escapa (2018): Assessing the evolutionary history of the fern family Dipteridaceae (Gleicheniales) by incorporating both extant and extinct members in a combined phylogenetic study. Abstract, American Journal of Botany 105: 1–14. See also here (in PDF).
Paul F. Ciesielski, Dept. Geological Sciences,
University of Florida:
Evolution of Earth and Life. Go to:
Transition
of plants to land.
Snapshot provided by the Internet Archive´s Wayback Machine.
Citable
reviews in the life sciences (Wiley). Go to:
Plant
Evolution.
J.W. Clark (2023):
Genome
evolution in plants and the origins of innovation. Free access,
New Phytologist, 240: 2204-2209.
!
Note figure 1: Genomic and phenotypic innovation across land plants. A time-calibrated phylogeny of land plants shows periods of dynamic genome evolution
including gene gain, transfer and loss.
"... Plant evolution has been characterised by a series of major novelties in their vegetative and
reproductive traits that have led to greater complexity.
[...] When viewed at the scale of the plant kingdom, plant
genome evolution has been punctuated by conspicuous instances of gene and whole-genome
duplication, horizontal gene transfer and extensive gene loss ..."
!
J.W. Clark et al. (2022):
The
origin and evolution of stomata. Free access,
Curr. Biol., 6: R539-R553.
doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2022.04.040.
See likewise
here.
!
Note figure 1: The phylogenetic context for stomatal origins and evolution.
Figure 4: The diversity of stomatal responses among land plants.
J.W. Clark and P.C.J. Donoghue (2018): Whole-Genome Duplication and Plant Macroevolution. In PDF, Trends in Plant Science, 23: 933-945. See also here.
!
J.T. Clarke et al. (2011):
Establishing
a time-scale for plant evolution. PDF file,
New Phytologist. See also
here.
!
Note figure 2: A representative tree of relationships between model representatives
of the major land plant lineages whose plastid or nuclear genomes
have been fully sequenced.
Figure 7: Chronogram for land plant evolution.
Figure 8: Chronograms for the six molecular clock analyses conducted.
"... We reject both a post-Jurassic origin of angiosperms and a post-Cambrian origin
of land plants. Our analyses also suggest that the establishment of the major
embryophyte lineages occurred at a much slower tempo than suggested in most
previous studies. ..."
Regine Claßen-Bockhoff (2001): Plant Morphology: The Historic Concepts of Wilhelm Troll, Walter Zimmermann and Agnes Arber. Free PDF file, Annals of Botany, 88: 1153-1172.
! C.J. Cleal and B. Cascales-Miñana (2021, start on PDF-page 39): Evolutionary floras - revealing large-scale patterns in Palaeozoic vegetation history. Journal of Palaeosciences, 70: 31-42.
C.J. Cleal et al. (2021):
Palaeobotanical
experiences of plant diversity in deep time. 1: How well can we identify past
plant diversity in the fossil record? Abstract,
Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 576.
See likewise
here
(in PDF).
"... Autochthonous floras provide the most direct evidence of vegetation diversity but these
are rare; most plant beds are allochthonous with plant remains that have been subjected to
varying levels of fragmentation, transportation and time averaging
[...] the plant fossil record provides clear evidence of the dynamic history of vegetation
through geological times, including the effects of major processes such as climate changes
and mass extinctions ..."
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!
J.C. Coates et al. (2011):
Plants and the Earth
system - past events and
future challenges. In PDF,
New Phytologist, 89: 370-373.
See also
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M. Coiro et al. (2024):
Parallel
evolution of angiosperm-like venation in Peltaspermales: a reinvestigation
of Furcula. Open access,
New Phytologist,
doi: 10.1111/nph.19726.
"... Although a hierarchical-reticulate venation also occurs in some groups of extinct seed
plants, it is unclear whether these are stem relatives of angiosperms
[...] We further suggest that the evolution of hierarchical venation systems in the early Permian,
the Late Triassic, and the Early Cretaceous represent ‘natural experiments’ that might help
resolve the selective pressures enabling this trait to evolve ..."
M. Coiro (2024):
Embracing
uncertainty: The way forward in plant fossil phylogenetics. Open access,
American Journal of Botany. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajb2.16282.
"... Although molecular phylogenetics remains the most widely used method of inferring the
evolutionary history of living groups, the last decade has seen a renewed interest in
morphological phylogenetics
[...] Given the nature of plant fossil and morphological data,
embracing uncertainty by exploring support within the
data represents a more productive and heuristic research
program than trying to achieve the same support and resolution
given by molecular data ..."
!
M. Coiro et al. (2023):
Reconciling
fossils with phylogenies reveals the origin and macroevolutionary processes explaining the
global cycad biodiversity. Open access,
New Phytologist, doi: 10.1111/nph.19010.
Note figure 1:
Global distribution of Cycadales.
!
Figure 2: Bayesian total-evidence dated phylogeny of Cycadales.
!
Figure 3: Ages of extant genera and fossil placements. Phylogenetic relationships
for extant and extinct cycads.
!
Figure 4: Historical biogeography of cycads.
"... Combining molecular data for extant species and leaf morphological data for extant and
fossil species, we study the origin of cycad global biodiversity patterns through Bayesian total-evidence
dating analyses.
[...] Cycads originated in the Carboniferous on the Laurasian landmass and expanded in Gondwana
in the Jurassic.
[...] We show the benefits of integrating fossils into phylogenies to estimate ancestral areas of
origin and to study evolutionary processes explaining the global distribution of present-day
relict groups ..."
!
M. Coiro et al. (2022):
Cutting
the long branches: Consilience as
a path to unearth the evolutionary
history of Gnetales. Open access,
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doi: 10.3389/fevo.2022.1082639.
See also
here.
Note figure 2: Phylograms showing the presence of long branches in the Gnetales.
Figure 6: Top: examples of macrofossils with gnetalean affinity.
!
M. Coiro et al. (2019):
How
deep is the conflict between molecular and fossil evidence on the age of angiosperms?
Free access,
New Phytologist, doi: 10.1111/nph.15708.
"... Critical scrutiny shows that supposed pre-Cretaceous angiosperms either represent
other plant groups or lack features that might confidently assign them to
the angiosperms. ..."
F.L. Condamine et al. (2020):
The
rise of angiosperms pushed conifers to decline during global cooling. Free access,
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 117: 28867–28875.
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Figure 2: Global diversification of conifers inferred from a molecular phylogeny and the fossil record.
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!
F.L. Condamine et al. (2015):
Origin
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BMC Evolutionary Biology.
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!
Figure 2: Time-calibrated phylogeny of Cycadales.
!
"... We also provide new insights into the history of cycad diversification because we found (i)
periods of extinction
along the long branches of the genera consistent with fossil data, and (ii) high
diversification rates within the Miocene
genus radiations. ..."
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Still available via Internet Archive Wayback Machine.
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!
P.R. Crane and A.B. Leslie (2013):
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Events in the Evolution of Land Plants. In PDF. The Princeton Guide to Evolution.
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7. Innovation in land plant reproduction.
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The link is to a version archived by the Internet Archive´s Wayback Machine.
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The
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Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden, 95: 3-33.
"... a reasonably good fossil record of angiosperms is emerging
[...] One of its most striking aspects is the rapid radiation of angiosperm taxa that are now unusually diverse around two particular times in geological history: the Turonian and Early Tertiary. Possible reasons for these intervals of rapid radiation among angiosperms will be discussed.
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Fossil
evidence and phylogeny: the age of major angiosperm clades based on mesofossil and
macrofossil evidence from Cretaceous deposits. Free access,
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!
Beautifully preserved charcoalified flowers!
Cyberinfrastructure for Phylogenetic Research (CIPRES).
Building the Tree of Life: A National Resource for Phyloinformatics and Computational
Phylogenetics. CIPRES is a collaboration of many american museums and institutions. Go to:
!
Getting
to the Roots of Plant Evolution (Powerpoint presentation). See also the
Exercise
Handout (PDF file).
Snapshots provided by the Internet Archive´s Wayback Machine.
R. Daber (2012),
Academic Universal-Lexikon:
Evolution:
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These expired links are now available through the Internet Archive´s
Wayback Machine.
! T.W. Dahl and S.K.M. Arens (2020): The impacts of land plant evolution on Earth's climate and oxygenation state – An interdisciplinary review. Open access, Chemical Geology, 547.
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Accessible
versatility underpins the deep evolution of plant specialized metabolism. Open access,
Phytochemistry Reviews.
Note figure 1: Evolutionary dynamics in key biochemical pathways.
D. J. Daniels, Glendale High School, Glendale, Arizona:
Advanced Placement Biology 2000,
D. J. Daniels´ Glendale High Biology Page,
Land Plants,
Evolution and Diversity.
Still available via Internet Archive Wayback Machine.
M. D'Ario et al. (2023):
Hidden
functional complexity in the flora of an early land ecosystem. Free access,
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"... Our approach highlights
the impact of sporangia morphology on spore dispersal and adaptation
We discovered previously unidentified innovations among early land plants, discussing how
different species might have opted for different spore dispersal strategies ..."
!
M.P. D'Antonio et al. (2020):
Land
plant evolution decreased, rather than increased, weathering rates. In PDF,
Geology, 48: 29–33.
See also
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"... The mass-balance constraints on the long-term carbon cycle provide a mechanism for
linking how land plant evolution simultaneously increased nutrient recycling and weathering
efficiency of the Earth’s surface ..."
C.C. Davis and S. Matthews (2019);
Davis Lab,
Harvard University Herbaria,
Cambridge, MA:
!
Evolution
of Land Plants. In PDF.
Evolution of land plants
in a nutshell, including a selected annotated bibliography.
Issued in
Oxford Bibliographies,
selected bibliographies for a variety of academic topics.
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H.J. de Boer et al. (2012): A critical transition in leaf evolution facilitated the Cretaceous angiosperm revolution. In PDF, Nature Communications, 3.
O. De Clerck et al. (2012):
Diversity
and Evolution of Algae:
Primary Endosymbiosis. In PDF, Advances in Botanical Research, 64.
This expired link
is available through the Internet Archive´s
Wayback Machine.
! A.L. Decombeix et al. (2019): Plant hydraulic architecture through time: lessons and questions on the evolution of vascular systems. In PDF, IAWA Journal, 40: 387-420. See also here and there.
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Plant
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Science, American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), 371 (6531),
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See also
here.
"... Delaux and Schornack review how insights from a range of plant and algal genomes
reveal sustained use through evolution of ancient gene modules as well as emergence
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layered innovation onto existing pathways to build new microbial interactions. ..."
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! L.E.V. Del-Bem (2018): Xyloglucan evolution and the terrestrialization of green plants. Free access, New Phytologist, 219: 1150–1153.
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P.M. Delaux et al. (2019):
Reconstructing
trait evolution in plant evo–devo studies. Free access,
Current Biology, 29: R1110-R1118.
"... we summarize a subset of the different aspects of
plant evolutionary biology, provide a guide for structuring comparative biology
approaches and discuss the pitfalls that (plant) researchers should avoid when
embarking on such studies ..."
C.F. Delwiche et al. (2017):
Land
Plant Model Systems Branch Out. In PDF,
Cell, 171.
"Liverworts may be the sister taxon to all other land
plants, and the genome shows features that illuminate the ancestor of all land plants and give insights
into how plant systems function and evolved".
!
C.F. Delwiche and E.D. Cooper (2015):
The
Evolutionary Origin of a Terrestrial Flora. Abstract, Current Biology. Please take notice:
!
From
algae to land plants (and vice versa).
Did some freshwater algae descend from a terrestrial ancestor?
In PDF.
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Melanie DeVore, Department of Biological and Environmental Science,
Georgia College and State University:
Plant
Origin and Evolution.
PowerPoint presentation (87.4 MB!).
This expired link is still available through the Internet Archive´s
Wayback Machine.
! J. De Vries and J.M. Archibald (2018): Plant evolution: landmarks on the path to terrestrial life. Free access, New Phytologist, 217: 1428-1434.
J. de Vries et al. (2018): Embryophyte stress signaling evolved in the algal progenitors of land plants. In PDF, PNAS, 115. See also here (abstract), and there (in German).
!
D.L. Dilcher (2001):
Paleobotany:
some aspects of non-flowering and flowering plant evolution. In PDF,
Taxon.
See also
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David Dilcher (2000): Toward a new synthesis: Major evolutionary trends in the angiosperm fossil record. PDF file, Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A., 97: 7030-7036. See also here.
W.A. DiMichele et al. (2023):
A
paleontological perspective on ecosystem assembly rules in the terrestrial
Paleozoic. Free access, Evolving Earth.
Note figure 1: Early Devonian (Emsian) flora from Gaspé, Canada.
Figure 2C: Edaphosaurus feeding on Supaia plants on stream bank,
with background vegetation dominated by conifers. Early Permian (Wolfcampian/Asselian),
New Mexico.
W.A. DiMichele et al. (2008):
The
so-called "Paleophytic–Mesophytic" transition in equatorial Pangea. Multiple
biomes and vegetational tracking of climate change through geological time. PDF file,
Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 268: 152-163.
See likewise
here
(abstract),
and there
(still available via Internet Archive Wayback Machine).
!
"... the evidence for a global “Paleophytic” vs. “Mesophytic” “vegetation” is simply unsubstantiated
by the fossil record.
[...] The vegetational changes occurring in the late Paleozoic thus can be
understood best when examined as spatial–temporal changes in biome-scale species pools responding to
major global climate changes, locally and regionally manifested. ..."
! W.A. DiMichele and R.M. Bateman (2005): Evolution of Land Plant Diversity: Major Innovations and Lineages through Time. In PDF, In: Krupnick, G.A. & Kress, W.J. (eds): Plant Conservation. A Natural History Approach. Chicago University Press, Chicago, IL, 3–14.
W.A. DiMichele et al. (2004): Long-term stasis in ecological assemblages: evidence from the fossil record. PDF file, Annu. Rev. Ecol. Evol. Syst., 35: 285-322. Provided by the Internet Archive´s Wayback Machine.
!
W.A. DiMichele (1999):
EVOLUTIONARY AND PALEOECOLOGICAL IMPLICATIONS OF TERRESTRIAL FLORAL CHANGES IN THE LATE PALEOZOIC TROPICS.
Abstract, 1999 GSA Annual Meeting, Denver, Colorado; The Geological Society of America (GSA).
This expired link is now available through the Internet Archive´s
Wayback Machine.
W.A. DiMichele et al. (1987):
Opportunistic
evolution: abiotic environmental stress and the fossil record of plants. PDF file,
Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology, 50: 151-178.
See also
here.
D. Dimitrov et al. (2023):
Diversification
of flowering plants in space and time. Free access,
Nature Communications, 14.
"... Using a newly generated genus-level phylogeny and global distribution data for 14,244
flowering plant genera, we describe the diversification dynamics of angiosperms
through space and time. Our analyses show that diversification rates
increased throughout the early Cretaceous and then slightly decreased or
remained mostly stable until the end of the Cretaceous–Paleogene mass
extinction event 66 million years ago. After that, diversification rates
increased again towards the present ..."
Adam Dimech,
Burnley College, University of Melbourne, Australia:
Plant
Evolution.
The website is designed to serve as an introduction to the theory behind the evolution of
the world's flora, with some emphasis placed on the Australian flora.
Still available through the Internet Archive´s
Wayback Machine.
D.S. Domozych et al. (2013): The Cell Walls of Green Algae: A Journey through Evolution and Diversity. In PDF.
P.C.J. Donoghue and J.W. Clark (2024):
Plant
evolution: Streptophyte multicellularity, ecology, and the acclimatisation of plants
to life on land. Free access,
Current Biology, DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2023.12.036.
See also
here.
!
P.C.J. Donoghue et al. (2021):
The
evolutionary emergence of land plants. In PDF,
Current Biology, 31: R1281-R1298.
See also
here.
"... The oldest possible fossil evidence for land plants occurs as late
Cambrian cryptospores, but their irregular arrangements
and occurrence in ‘packets’ of multiple spore-like bodies sur-
rounded by synoecosporal walls has led to algal interpretations ..."
!
Note figure 4: Timescale of streptophyte phylogeny and
the origin of land plant novelties.
P. Donoghue (2019):
Evolution:
The Flowering of Land Plant Evolution. Abstract,
Current Biology. See also:
Evolution:
The flowering of land plant evolution - whence and whither?
(in PDF).
! M.J. Donoghue et al. (2015): Confluence, synnovation, and depauperons in plant diversification. Open access, New Phytologist, 207: 260–274.
M.J. Donoghue and E.J. Edwards (2014): Biome shifts and niche evolution in plants. In PDF, Annu. Rev. Ecol. Evol. Syst., 45: 547-572.
M.J. Donoghue (2005):
Key
innovations, convergence, and success: macroevolutionary lessons from plant phylogeny.
In PDF, Paleobiology, 31: 77-93.
See also
here.
M.J. Donoghue (1989): Phylogenies and the analysis of evolutionary sequences, with examples from seed plants. Open access, Evolution, 43.
! M.J. Donoghue (1989): Phylogenies and the analysis of evolutionary sequences, with examples from seed plants. Open access, Evolution, 43.
J.A. Doyle and P.K. Endress (2014): Integrating Early Cretaceous Fossils into the Phylogeny of Living Angiosperms: ANITA Lines and Relatives of Chloranthaceae Int. J. Plant Sci., 175: 555–600.
! J.A. Doyle (2013): Phylogenetic analyses and morphological innovations in land plants. Free access, Annual Plant Reviews book series, Volume 45: The Evolution of Plant Form. See also here (in PDF).
! J.A. Doyle (2012): Molecular and fossil evidence on the origin of angiosperms. In PDF, Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences, 40: 301-26.
James A. Doyle, Section of Evolution and Ecology, University of California, Davis: PHYLOGENY OF VASCULAR PLANTS. Abstract, Annu. Rev. Ecol. Syst. 1998. 29:567-599. See also here.
X.Y. Du et al. (2021):
Simultaneous
diversification of Polypodiales and angiosperms in the
Mesozoic. In PDF, Cladistics, 37.
See also
here.
Note fig. 2: Summary chronograms of Polypodiales.
Fig. 5. Comparison of lineage through time plots for Polypodiales and angiosperms.
"... The estimated divergence patterns of Polypodiales
and angiosperms converge to a scenario in which their main lineages were
established simultaneously shortly before the onset of
the Cretaceous Terrestrial Revolution ..."
J.G. Duckett et al. (2023):
Evolution
of phenotypic disparity in the plant kingdom. Open access,
Nature Plants, 9: 1618–1626.
"... the plant kingdom exhibits a pattern of
episodically increasing disparity throughout its evolutionary history that
mirrors the evolutionary floras and reflects ecological expansion facilitated
by reproductive innovations
[...] disparity increases at a slower rate through the middle
and late Palaeozoic to the early Mesozoic, followed by a sharp increase
during the Triassic that reflects the diversification of gymnosperms
and ferns and the origin of angiosperms ..."
! D. Edwards et al. 2022a): Piecing together the eophytes–a new group of ancient plants containing cryptospores. Free access, New Phytologist, 233: 1440–1455.
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!
D. Edwards and P. Kenrick (2015):
The
early evolution of land plants, from fossils
to genomics: a commentary on Lang (1937)
"On the plant-remains from the Downtonian of
England and Wales". Open access, Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B 370.
Note figure 4: Relationships among major groups of land plants showing the
hypothesized broad range of clades to which cryptophytes (extinct cryptospore-producing
plants) might belong.
!
A. Elgorriaga et al. (2019):
Relictual
Lepidopteris (Peltaspermales) from the Early Jurassic Cañadón Asfalto
Formation, Patagonia, Argentina. Abstract,
Int. J. Plant Sci., 180.
See also
here
(in PDF), and
there.
"... and its youngest species, Lepidopteris ottonis, has been used as a Rhaetian marker for several European,
Greenlandic, and American localities ..."
"... Lepidopteris scassoi represents the youngest occurrence
of the genus by more than 20 Myr. Lepidopteris and Dicroidium lineages, dominant in Southern
Hemisphere Triassic ecosystems, show a similar overall pattern of origination (Late Permian), diversification
(late Early-Middle Triassic), and decline (Late Triassic), with relict occurrences
during the Early Jurassic. ..."
C. Elliott-Kingston et al. (2021): Creating a university evolution garden: An integrated learning approach for teaching land plant evolution. Open access, Plants People Planet, 3: 761-774.
P.K. Endress (2011): Angiosperm ovules: diversity, development, evolution. Free access, Annals of Botany, 107: 1465-1489.
I.H. Escapa and S. Catalano (2013):
Phylogenetic
Analysis of Araucariaceae: Integrating Molecules, Morphology, and Fossils. In PDF,
International Journal of Plant Sciences. See also
here.
"... Monophyletic Araucariaceae is the sister group of Podocarpaceae, forming the order Araucariales.
Monophyly of Araucaria and Agathis is also strongly supported by the data.
The results of both molecular and combined analyses indicate that Wollemia and Agathis
form a clade (=agathioid clade) sister to Araucaria ..."
M.J. Farabee, Estrella Mountain Community College, Phoenix, Arizona:
!
On-Line
Biology Book. Table of Contents. Introductory biology lecture notes. Go to:
!
The
modern view of evolution.
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Angiosperm
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See also
here.
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Carpel
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Advances in Botanical Research,
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here.
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S. Fields (2021): Diversification of Angiosperms During the Cretaceous Period. In PDF, Undergraduate Student Theses, Environmental Studies Program at DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska,Lincoln. See also here.
J. Folsom,
The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens,
San Marino, CA:
Plant
Trivia Timeline. This expired link is available through the Internet Archive´s
Wayback Machine. See also:
here
(PDF file).
The Timeline gives world history from the viewpoint of a botanist.
It is the story of plant discovery and
use, and addresses the roles of plants in human
civilization.
David Ford,
Canopy Dynamics Lab, School of Environmental and Forest Resources,
University of Washington, Seattle, WA:
!
Biol220 TAs.
Botany lecture notes (Powerpoint presentations). See especially:
The
Importance of Plants, their origins and ways of life.
Plant evolution timeline on Powerpoint slide 11, 18 and 22!
!
F. Forrest (2009):
Calibrating
the Tree of Life: fossils, molecules and evolutionary timescales. Free access,
Annals of Botany, 104: 789–794.
"... New methods have now been proposed
to resolve potential sources of error associated with the calibration
of phylogenetic trees, particularly those involving
use of the fossil record.
[...] ! "...the fossil record remains the most reliable source of information
for the calibration of phylogenetic trees, although associated assumptions and potential bias must be taken
into account. ..."
! C.S.P. Foster (2016): The evolutionary history of flowering plants. In PDF, Journal & Proceedings of the Royal Society of New South Wales, 149: 65-82.
P.J. Franks et al. (2012):
Megacycles
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See also
here.
W.A. Friedman (2020):
Darwin
in the garden: Engaging the public about evolution with museum collections of living objects. Open access,
Plants, People, Planet, 2: 294–301.
"... Polls continue to show distressingly high percentages of people around the world do not accept that evolution has occurred.
[...] It is time for botanical gardens and arboreta around the world to commit to leveraging their living collections of museum objects to explain and demonstrate the roles of mutation, variation, and selection in the evolutionary
process. In doing so, much could be accomplished to increase scientific literacy at a societal level.
W.E. Friedman (2017): Insights into how the world turned green. In PDF, New Phytologist.
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W.E. Friedman and M.E. Cook (2000):
The origin and early evolution of tracheids in
vascular plants: integration of palaeobotanical
and neobotanical data. In PDF,
Phil.Trans. R. Soc. Lond. B, 355: 857-868.
See also
here.
!
Note figure 2. The three major types of early tracheids.
!
E.M. Friis et al. (2011):
Early Flowers and Angiosperm Evolution.
Abstract, Cambridge University Press.
See also
here
(in PDF, long download time) and
there
(Google books).
Also worth checking out: Book Review,
by P.J. Rudall, Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society,
170. In PDF.
"... This long-awaited book represents not only a
remarkable tour de force of palaeobotanical literature,
but also a potentially enduring biological textbook. ..."
Else Marie Friis, Kaj Raunsgaard Pedersen and Peter R. Crane (2010): Diversity in obscurity: fossil flowers and the early history of angiosperms. PDF file, Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B, 365: 369-382. Some of the specimens are charcoalified and have retained their original three-dimensional shape. See also here.
!
M.W. Frohlich & M.W. Chase (2007):
After a dozen years of progress the origin of
angiosperms is still a great mystery.
In PDF, Nature, 450: 1184-1189.
See also
here.
!
Q. Fu et al. (2023):
Micro-CT
results exhibit ovules enclosed in the ovaries of Nanjinganthus. Open access,
Scientific Reports, 13.
Note figure 4: Micro-CT results exhibit ovules enclosed in the ovaries of Nanjinganthus.
T. Fujiwara et al. (2023): Evolution of genome space occupation in ferns: linking genome diversity and species richness. Open access, Annals of Botany, 131: 59–70.
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! D.J. Futuyma and A.A. Agrawal (2009): Macroevolution and the biological diversity of plants and herbivores. In PDF.
!
J.M. Galloway and S. Lindström (2023):
Impacts
of large-scale magmatism on land plant ecosystems. Open access,
Elements, 19: 289–295.
! Note figure 1: Summary figure of changes in the diversity of land
plants over geological time.
Figure 2: Flow chart showing the myriad of ways large-scale magmatism may impact land plants.
"... Emplacement of large igneous
provinces (LIPs) is implicated in almost every mass extinction and smaller
biotic crises in Earth’s history, but the effects of these and other large-scale
magmatic events on terrestrial ecosystems are poorly understood
[...] We review existing palynological literature to
explore the direct and cumulative impacts of large-scale magmatism, such as
LIP-forming events, on terrestrial vegetation composition and dynamics over geological time ..."
! Robert A. Gastaldo, Department of Geology,
Colby College, Waterville, Maine:
Plant
Associations of the Mesophytic.
Lecture Notes.
Still available through the Internet Archive´s
Wayback Machine.
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!
P.G. Gensel (2021):
When
did terrestrial plants arise? Abstract,
Science, 373: : 736-737.
"... There has been a discrepancy in the time of land plant origination between
molecular clock estimations (based on genes and RNA) and fossil record estimates
(based on morphology). On page 792 of this issue, Strother and Foster (6) describe
fossilized spores whose characteristics raise the possibility that land plants arose
by co-opting algal genes, along with acquiring de novo genes, and that the former
would account for the molecular clock predating the fossil record. ..."
!
P.G. Gensel et al. (2020):
Back
to the Beginnings: The Silurian-Devonian
as a Time of Major Innovation in Plants and Their Communities
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!
Note figure 15.20: Phylogenetic relationships between the major Paleozoic plant groups.
! P.G. Gensel (2008):
The earliest land plants. In PDF,
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P. Gerrienne et al. (2016): Plant evolution and terrestrialization during Palaeozoic times - the phylogenetic context. Abstract, Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology.
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Philippe Gerrienne and Paul Gonez (2010): Early evolution of life cycles in embryophytes: A focus on the fossil evidence of gametophyte/sporophyte size and morphological complexity. Journal of Systematics and Evolution, 49: 1-16.
! M.R. Gibling et al. (2014): Palaeozoic co-evolution of rivers and vegetation: a synthesis of current knowledge. In PDF, Proceedings of the Geologists´ Association, 125: 524-533.
! M.R. Gibling and N.S. Davies (2012): Palaeozoic landscapes shaped by plant evolution. In PDF, Nature Geoscience, 5. See also here (abstract).
B. Gieren (2006): Die Landpflanzenevolution im Phanerozoikum aus petrographischer und geochemischer Sicht. PDF file, in German. Thesis, Georg-August-Universität, Gõttingen.
E.M. Gifford and A.S. Foster (1988): Morphology and Evolution of Vascular Plants. In PDF, 3rd edition, (New York: Freeman). See also here.
M.A. Gitzendanner et al. (2018): Methods for exploring the plant tree of life. In PDF, Applications in Plant Sciences, 6. See also here. Introduction for the special issue: Methods for Exploring the Plant Tree of Life.
R. Gorelick and K. Olson (2011): Is lack of cycad (Cycadales) diversity a result of a lack of polyploidy? Abstract, Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, 165: 156-167.
R. Gorelick (2001): Did insect pollination cause increased seed plant diversity? PDF file, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 74: 407-427.
S.R. Gradstein and H. Kerp (2012): A Brief History of Plants on Earth. Google books, The Geologic Time Scale 2012. See also here (Table of contents, Elsevier).
Alan Graham (1993): 3. History of the Vegetation: Cretaceous (Maastrichian) - Tertiary. PDF file, Vol. 1. Flora of North America north of Mexico. See also here.
!
Linda E. Graham et al. (2000):
The origin of plants: Body plan changes contributing to a
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J. Gravendyck et al. (2022): Early Angiosperms - How far can we reliably go back in the pollen record. Abstract, 11th European Palaeobotany and Palynology Conference Abstracts, Program and Proceedings, Swedish Museum of Natural History, Stockholm.
J. Gray and W. Shear (1992): Early life on land. In PDF, American Scientist.
S.F. Greb et al. (2006):
Evolution
and Importance of Wetlands in Earth History.
PDF file, In: DiMichele, W.A., and Greb, S., eds., Wetlands Through Time:
Geological Society of America, Special Publication, 399: 1-40.
Rhacophyton and Archaeopteris in a Devonian wetland as well as Pennsylvanian, Permian,
Triassic and Cretaceous wetland plant reconstructions.
Note figure 1: Evolution of wetland types in the Silurian and Devonian.
See also
here.
Still available through the Internet Archive´s
Wayback Machine.
L. Guo et al. (2024):
Evolutionary
and ecological forces shape nutrient strategies of mycorrhizal woody plants. Free access,
Ecology Letters, 27.
See likewise
here.
Note figure 1: Phylogenetic tree of the species that have data related to
nutrient acquisition strategies.
K. Gurung et al. (2022):
Climate
windows of opportunity for plant expansion during the Phanerozoic. Open access,
Nature Communications, 13.
Note figure 1: Approximate estimations of plant evolution and Phanerozoic time periods.
Figure 7: Potential biomass of plant functional types across the Phanerozoic.
"... we identify two key ‘windows of opportunity’ during the Ordovician and Jurassic-Paleogene capable of
supporting dramatic expansions of potential plant biomass. These conditions
are driven by continental dispersion, paleolatitude of continental area and a
lack of glaciation, ..."
S.G. Hao and J.Z. Xue (2013): Earliest record of megaphylls and leafy structures, and their initial diversification. In PDF, Chin. Sci. Bull., 58: 2784-2793.
! J. Harholt et al. (2015): Why Plants Were Terrestrial from the Beginning. Abstract, Trends in Plant Science, 21: 96-101.
B.J. Harris et al. (2021):
Divergent
evolutionary trajectories of bryophytes and tracheophytes from a complex common
ancestor of land plants.
bioRxiv, see also
here.
Note figure 3: The timescale of land plant evolution.
"... Here we investigate the evolution of the land plants (embryophytes) and their two main lineages, the
tracheophytes (vascular plants) and bryophytes (non-vascular plants).
[...] extant tracheophytes and bryophytes are both highly derived; as a result, understanding the origin of
land plants requires tracing character evolution across the diversity of modern lineages.
B.J. Harris et al. (2020):
Phylogenomic
evidence for the monophyly of bryophytes and the reductive evolution of stomata: Free access,
Current Biology, 30: 2001-2012.
"... Our analyses recover bryophyte
monophyly and demonstrate that the guard cell toolkit is more ancient than
has been appreciated previously.
[...] the first embryophytes
possessed stomata that were more sophisticated than previously envisioned and that the stomata of bryophytes
have undergone reductive evolution, including their complete loss from liverworts ..."
! C.J. Harrison and J.L. Morris (2017): The origin and early evolution of vascular plant shoots and leaves. Free access, Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B, 373: 20160496.
C.J. Harrison (2017): Development and genetics in the evolution of land plant body plans. In PDF, Phil. Trans. R. Soc., B 372. See also here (abstract).
M. Haworth et al. (2011): Stomatal control as a driver of plant evolution. In PDF, J. Exp. Bot., 62: 2419-2423.
Alan Haywood, Leeds: Plants and Earth History. Powerpoint presentation.
T. He et al. (2019): Fire as a key driver of Earth's biodiversity. In PDF, Biological Reviews. See also here.
T. He and B.B. Lamont (2017): Baptism by fire: the pivotal role of ancient conflagrations in evolution of the Earth´s flora. National Science Review. See also here (in PDF).
! T.A. Heath et al. (2014): The fossilized birth–death process for coherent calibration of divergence-time estimates. Open access, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA, 111: E2957–E2966.
Scott A. Heckathorn,
Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Toledo, Ohio, USA:
Biodiversity
lecture notes, Powerpoint presentations. See especially:
Plant Diversity I:
How
Plants Colonized Land.
Plant Diversity
II:&xnbsp;
The
Evolution of Seed Plants.
These expired links
are available through the Internet Archive´s
Wayback Machine.
J.B. Hedges (2004): A molecular timescale of eukaryote evolution and the rise of complex multicellular life. BMC evolutionary biology.
University of Heidelberg, Germany:
Aktuelle
Themen in der pflanzlichen Biodiversitätsforschung (in PDF). Lecture notes, in German.
J. Griller,
PDF page 1-18:
"Die verwandtschaftliche Stellung der Moose".
A. Olbrich, PDF page 19-55:
"Verwandtschaftliche Beziehungen der Farnpflanzen".
(?), PDF page 56-92:
"Die verwandtschaftliche Stellung der Gymnospermen".
F. Haßfeld, PDF page 93-102:
"Die verwandtschaftliche Stellung der Angiospermen".
! P.S. Herendeen et al. (2017): Palaeobotanical redux: revisiting the age of the angiosperms. In PDF, Nature Plants 3. See also here.
F. Herrera et al. (2015): A New Voltzian Seed Cone from the Early Cretaceous of Mongolia and Its Implications for the Evolution of Ancient Conifers. In PDF, Int. J. Plant Sci., 176: 791-809.
J. Herting and T. Stützel (2021): Evolution of the coniferous seed scale. Free access, Annals of Botany.
!
A.J. Hetherington (2024):
Fossil
evidence supports at least two origins of plant roots. PDF file, pp. 3-18, in:
T. Beeckman & A. Eshel (eds.), Plant Roots: The Hidden Half. Fifth edn, CRC Press, Boca Raton.
See likewise
here.
Note figure 1.4: Geological timeline showing major events in early land plant evolution.
!
Figure 1.8, A: Complex rooting system of Asteroxylon mackiei composed of root-bearing axes
and rooting axes. A, Artists reconstruction of A. mackiei in life.
A.J. Hetherington and L. Dolan (2019): Rhynie chert fossils demonstrate the independent origin and gradual evolution of lycophyte roots. Abstract, Current opinion in plant biology, 47: 119-126. See also here and there (in PDF).
A.J. Hetherington and L. Dolan (2018): Stepwise and independent origins of roots among land plants. Free access, Nature, 561: 235–238. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2019.
T.E. Higham et al. (2022):
The
Evolution of Mechanical Properties of Conifer and Angiosperm Woods. In PDF,
Integrative and Comparative Biology, 62: 668–682.
See also
here.
!
M.F. Hohmann-Marriott and R.E. Blankenship (2011):
Evolution
of Photosynthesis. In PDF,
Annual Review of Plant Biology, 62: 515-548.
See also
here.
Note figure 2: Evolution of life and photosynthesis in geological context,
highlighting the emergence of groups of
photosynthetic organisms.
Kent E. Holsinger, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT: Reproductive systems and evolution in vascular plants (PDF file).
M. Hrabovský (2021):
Leaf
evolution and classification. 3. Gymnospermopsida. In PDF,
Acta Botanica Universitatis Comenianae, 57.
!
Many black and white contour drawings.
M. Hrabovský (2020):
Leaf
evolution and classification. 2. Polypodiopsida. In PDF,
Acta Botanica Universitatis Comenianae, 56.
!
Many black and white contour drawings.
M. Hrabovský (2020):
Leaf
evolution and classification. 1. Lycopodiopsida.
In PDF, Acta Botanica Universitatis Comenianae, 55.
See also
here.
!
Many black and white contour drawings.
M. Hübers and H. Kerp (2012):
Oldest known mosses discovered in
Mississippian (late Visean) strata of Germany. In PDF,
Geology, 40: 755–758.
See also
here.
I.B. Huegele and S.R. Manchester (2020): An Early Paleocene Carpoflora from the Denver Basin of Colorado, USA, and Its Implications for Plant-Animal Interactions and Fruit Size Evolution. Free access, Int. J. Plant Sci., 181: 646–665.
! C.E. Hughes et al. (2015): Evolutionary plant radiations: where, when, why and how? In PDF, New Phytologist, 207: 249-253. See also here.
!
Norman F. Hughes (1994):
The
Enigma of Angiosperm Origins. 405 pages.
Provided by Cambridge University Press through the Google Print Publisher Program.
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Norman F. Hughes (1982): Palaeobiology of Angiosperm Origins: Problems of Mesozoic Seed-Plant Evolution. Provided by Google books.
A. Ielpi et al. (2022):
The
impact of vegetation on meandering rivers. In PDF,
Nature Reviews Earth & Environment, 3: 165–178.
See also
here.
!
Note fig. 2: Graphical timeline summary of the main
evolutionary and fluvial-geomorphic events that accompanied the
Palaeozoic rise of land plants, with select plant types and their approximate
first appearance.
!
Fig. 4: Meandering rivers in barren and vegetated landscapes.
K. Ishizaki (2017): Evolution of land plants: insights from molecular studies on basal lineages. Abstract, Bioscience, Biotechnology, and Biochemistry, 81.
D. Jablonski and S.M. Edie (2023):
Perfect
storms shape biodiversity in time and space. Free access,
Evolutionary Journal of the Linnean Society, 2.
"... Many of the most dramatic patterns in biological diversity are created by
“Perfect Storms” —rare combinations of mutually reinforcing factors that push origination,
extinction, or diversity accommodation to extremes. These patterns include the strongest
diversification events
[...] This approach necessarily weighs contributing factors, identifying their often non-linear
and time-dependent interactions ..."
!
M.E. James et al. (2023):
Replicated
Evolution in Plants. Open access,
Annual Review of Plant Biology, 74: 697-725.
"...Similar traits and functions commonly evolve in nature. Here, we explore
patterns of replicated evolution across the plant kingdom and discuss the
processes responsible for such patterns.
[...] The term replicated evolution can be used to encompass both convergence and
parallelism ..."
K. Jordan et al.(2008): An Interactive Timeline of Plant Evolution. See also here (in PDF). Note fig. 1.
N.A. Jud (2015): Fossil evidence for a herbaceous diversification of early eudicot angiosperms during the Early Cretaceous. In PDF, Proc. R. Soc., B, 282. See also here.
Kenneth G. Karol, Richard M. McCourt, Matthew T. Cimino, and Charles F. Delwiche, Science Magazine: The Closest Living Relatives of Land Plants. This analysis supports the hypothesis that the land plants are placed phylogenetically within the Charophyta, identifies the Charales (stoneworts) as the closest living relatives of plants.
!
O. Katz (2018):
Extending
the scope of Darwin’s ‘abominable mystery’: integrative approaches
to understanding angiosperm origins and species richness. Open access,
Annals of Botany, 121: 1–8.
See also
here
(Botany One).
M. Alan Kazlev, Palaeos,
The Evolutionary History of Green Plants.
This website illustrates the diversity of green plants,
according to modern palaeobotanical and paleontological
understanding.
Still available via Internet Archive Wayback Machine.
M. Alan Kazlev and Toby White, Australia:
Palaeos: The trace of Life on Earth.
The Palaeos Site is dedicated to providing a detailed and - at least in parts - comprehensive overview of the
history of life on Earth. Use the menu bars at the top and (in longer pages) bottom of the page to navigate.
Go to:
Chlorobionta: Land Plants.
Evolution
of Land Plants.
J.E. Keeley et al. (2011): Fire as an evolutionary pressure shaping plant traits. PDF file, Trends in Plant Science, 16.
Kelber, K.-P. (2003): Sterben und Neubeginn im Spiegel der Paläofloren. PDF file (17 MB!), in German. Plant evolution, the fossil record of plants and the aftermath of mass extinction events. pp. 38-59, 212-215; In: Hansch, W. (ed.): Katastrophen in der Erdgeschichte - Wendezeiten des Lebens.- museo 19, Heilbronn.
!
P. Kenrick (2017):
Changing
expressions: a hypothesis for the origin of the vascular plant life cycle. Free access,
Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B,
373: 20170149.
Note reconstructions of early land plants in fig. 4 and 5:
Aglaophyton majus, Horneophyton lignieri, Remyophyton delicatum, Lyonophyton rhyniense,
Lycopodium annotinum.
P. Kenrick and C. Strullu-Derrien (2014): The Origin and Early Evolution of Roots. In PDF, Plant Physiology, 166: 570-580. See also here (abstract).
!
P. Kenrick et al. (2012):
A
timeline for terrestrialization: consequences for the carbon cycle in the Palaeozoic. In PDF,
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, 367: 519-536.
Website saved by the Internet Archive´s
Wayback Machine.
! Paul Kenrick (2011): Timescales and timetrees. PDF file, New Phytologist, 192. See also here.
P. Kenrick (2000): The relationships of vascular plants. PDF file.
!
P. Kenrick & P.R. Crane (1997):
The
origin and early evolution of
plants on land. PDF file, Nature.
See also
here.
! H. Kerp et al. (2020): Plants, spores, and pollen. Pdf file, in: F.M. Gradstein et al. (eds.): The Geological Time Scale 2020.
Hans Kerp, Palaeobotanical Research Group, Westfälische
Wilhelms University, Münster:
A History of Palaeozoic Forests. An introductory text with many helpful
links
directly related to the history of Palaeozoic forests. 7 chapters provide information about:
The earliest land plants;
Towards a tree-like growth habit;
The earliest forests;
The Carboniferous coal swamp forests;
The floral change at the end of the Westphalian;
Stefanian and Rotliegend floras;
Is there a floral break in the Permian?
Now provided by the Internet Archive´s Wayback Machine.
Michael Knee, Department of Horticulture and Crop Science,
Ohio State University, Columbus:
General
Plant Biology
Online Resources.
Lecture notes.
Available through the Internet Archive´s
Wayback Machine.
Michael Knee,
Department of Horticulture and Crop Science,
Ohio State University:
General Plant Biology, Horticulture and Crop Science 300,
Online Resources. Go to:
ANTHOPHYTA I,
Evolution
of flowering plants, and
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A.H. Knoll and M.A. Nowak (2017):
The
timetable of evolution. Free access,
Science Advances, 3.
Note fig. 1: The evolutionary timetable, showing the course of evolution as inferred
from fossils, environmental proxies, and high-resolution geochronology.
A.H. Knoll (2014): Paleobiological Perspectives on Early Eukaryotic Evolution. In PDF, see also here.
! A.H. Knoll and K.J. Niklas (1987): Adaptation, plant evolution, and the fossil record. Free access, Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology, 50: 127-149.
M. Koltzenburg and G. Weitbrecht, Reutlingen, Germany:
Floren- und Vegetationsgeschichte
Plant evolution in a nutshell (DOC file, in German).
Now recovered from the Internet Archive´s
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J. Kowal et al. (2018): From rhizoids to roots? Experimental evidence of mutualism between liverworts and ascomycete fungi. In PDF, Annals Of Botany, 121: 221-227. See also here.
Valentin A. Krassilov (1987): Palaeobotany of the mesophyticum: state of the art. In PDF, Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology, 50: 231-254. Provided by the Internet Archive´s Wayback Machine.
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P. Kumar et al. (2023):
How
plants conquered land: evolution of terrestrial adaptation. Open access,
Journal of Evolutionary Biology, 35: 5–14.
"... The transition of plants from water to land is considered one of the most significant
events in the evolution of life
[...] This study highlights the
morphological and genomic innovations that allow plants to integrate life on Earth ..."
U. Kutschera and K.J. Niklas (2004): The modern theory of biological evolution: an expanded synthesis. PDF file, Naturwissenschaften, 91: 255-276.
!
C.C. Labandeira et al. (2016):
The
evolutionary convergence of mid-Mesozoic lacewings and Cenozoic butterflies. See also
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(in PDF). Proc. R. Soc., B 283.
Heritagedaily:
Paleobotanist
plays role in discovery of "Jurassic butterflies".
An artist´s rendering of the butterfly Oregramma illecebrosa, consuming pollen drops from
Triassic bennettitales.
Conrad C. Labandeira (2010): The Pollination of Mid Mesozoic Seed Plants and the Early History of Long-proboscid Insects. PDF file, Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden, 97: 469-513. See also here.
C.C. Labandeira (2005): Invasion of the continents: cyanobacterial crusts to tree-inhabiting arthropods. In PDF, Trends in Ecology and Evolution, 20.
B. Laenen et al. (2014): Extant diversity of bryophytes emerged from successive post-Mesozoic diversification bursts. In PDF. See also here (abstract).
!
M.A.K. Lalica (2024):
Evolutionary
origins of secondary growth-the periderm perspective: Integrating evidence
from fossils and living plants. Free access, Thesis,
California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt.
Note figure 7: A model for the developmental sequence of wound-response periderm
in early euphyllophytes.
Figure 15: Wound periderm in fossil plants.
"... Knowledge of periderm occurrences in the fossil record and living lineages outside the seed plants is limited and its
evolutionary origins remain poorly explored
[...] I add new observations and experiments on living plant lineages and new occurrences
from the fossil record. One of the latter, documented in the new early euphyllophyte
species Nebuloxyla mikmaqiana, joins the oldest known periderm occurrences
(Early Devonian), which allow me to construct a model for the development of wound-response
periderm in early tracheophytes ..."
A.D.B. Leakey and J.A. Lau (2012): Evolutionary context for understanding and manipulating plant responses to past, present and future atmospheric [CO2]. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B, 367: 613-629. See als here (in PDF).
A.R. Leitch and I.J. Leitch (2012): Ecological and genetic factors linked to contrasting genome dynamics in seed plants. In PDF, New Phytologist, 194: 629-646.
S. Lehtonen et al. (2020):
Exploring
the phylogeny of the marattialean ferns. Open access,
Cladistics.
Note fig. 4: Parsimony-dated phylogeny and Bayesian historical biogeography of the
marattialean ferns.
"... We resolved the fossil genera Marattiopsis, Danaeopsis and Qasimia
as members of the monophyletic family Marattiaceae, and the Carboniferous genera Sydneia
and Radstockia as the monophyletic
sister of all other marattialean ferns. ..."
!
F. Leliaert et al. (2011):
Into
the deep: new discoveries at the base of the green plant phylogeny. PDF file,
BioEssays. 33: 683-692.
See also
here.
!
Note figure 1: Phylogenetic relationships among the main lineages of green plants.
"... A schism early in their evolution gave
rise to two major lineages, one of which diversified in
the world’s oceans and gave rise to a large diversity of
marine and freshwater green algae (Chlorophyta) while
the other gave rise to a diverse array of freshwater green
algae and the land plants (Streptophyta) ..."
T.M. Lenton et al. (2016): Earliest land plants created modern levels of atmospheric oxygen. Free access, PNAS, 113.
! T.M. Lenton (2001): The role of land plants, phosphorus weathering and fire in the rise and regulation of atmospheric oxygen. In PDF, Global Change Biology, 7: 613-629.
! K. Lepot (2020): Signatures of early microbial life from the Archean (4 to 2.5 Ga) eon. Free access, Earth-Science Reviews, 209. See also here.
A.B. Leslie and R.B.J. Benson (2022):
Neontological
and paleontological congruence in the evolution of Podocarpaceae (coniferales)
reproductive morphology. Free access,
Front. Ecol. Evol., 10: 1058746.
doi: 10.3389/fevo.2022.1058746
"... Although molecular and fossil data regarding the deep
evolution of Podocarpaceae reproductive structures are sparse,
they are complementary. Both suggest that cones, seeds, and
leaves evolved as a suite of traits in a stepwise manner in
response to changing ecological conditions from the Early
Cretaceous through the early Cenozoic ..."
A.B. Leslie and J.M. Losada (2019):
Reproductive
Ontogeny and the Evolution of Morphological Diversity in Conifers and Other Plants. Free access,
Integrative and Comparative Biology, 59: 548–558.
Note figure 4: Depictions of ovuliferous complex and ovule/seed ontogeny
in different conifer groups through time.
A.B. Leslie et al. (2018): An overview of extant conifer evolution from the perspective of the fossil record. Abstract, American Journal of Botany, 105: 1–14. See also here (in PDF).
! A.B. Leslie et al. (2015): Integration and macroevolutionary patterns in the pollination biology of conifers. In PDF, Evolution, 69: 1573-1583.
! A.B. Leslie et al. (2012): Hemisphere-scale differences in conifer evolutionary dynamics. In PDF, PNAS, 109: 16217-16221. See also here.
Gerhard Leubner, The Seed Biology Place, University Freiburg, Germany: Seed evolution. Origin and evolution of the seed habit.
!
H.T. Li et al. (2019):
Origin
of angiosperms and the puzzle of the Jurassic gap. Abstract,
Nature Plants, 5: 461–470.
See also
here
(in PDF).
"... With a well-resolved plastid tree and 62?fossil calibrations, we dated the origin
of the crown angiosperms to the Upper Triassic, with major angiosperm radiations occurring
in the Jurassic and Lower Cretaceous. This estimated crown age is substantially earlier than
that of unequivocal angiosperm fossils, and the difference is here termed
the ‘Jurassic angiosperm gap’. ..."
F.-W. Li et al. (2018): Fern genomes elucidate land plant evolution and cyanobacterial symbioses. Open access, Nature Plants, 4: 460–472.
! R. Ligrone et al. (2012): Major transitions in the evolution of early land plants: a bryological perspective. Free access, Annals of botany, 109: 851–871.
! A. Linkies et al. (2010). The evolution of seeds. In PDF, New Phytologist, 186: 817-831. See also here (abstract).
B.H. Lomax et al. (2014): Reconstructing relative genome size of vascular plants through geological time. Free access, New Phytologist, 201: 636–644.
! C.V. Looy et al. (2014): The late Paleozoic ecological-evolutionary laboratory, a land-plant fossil record perspective. In PDF, The Sedimentary Record, 12: 4-18. See also here.
!
A.M. López-Martínez et al. (2023):
Angiosperm
flowers reached their highest morphological diversity early in their evolutionary history. Open access,
New Phytologist, 241: 1348–1360.
doi: 10.1111/nph.19389.
"... Based on a comprehensive dataset focusing on 30 characters describing
floral structure across angiosperms, we used 1201 extant and 121 fossil flowers to measure floral disparity and explore
patterns of floral evolution through time and across lineages ..."
!
G.Q. Liu et al. (2022):
The
Molecular Phylogeny of Land Plants: Progress and Future Prospects. Open access,
Diversity, 14 (from the Special Issue Ecology, Evolution and Diversity of Plants).
Note figure 1: Summary of phylogenetic relationships among major clades of land plants.
!
Y. Liu et al. (2022):
The Cycas
genome and the early evolution of seed plants. Open access,
Nature Plants, 8: 389–401.
"... Although the major cycad lineages are ancient, modern cycad
species emerged from several relatively recent diversifications ..."
Y. Lu et al. (2014): Phylogeny and divergence times of gymnosperms inferred from single-copy nuclear genes. PloS one.
! W.J. Lucas et al. (2013): The Plant Vascular System: Evolution, Development and Functions. In PDF, Journal of Integrative Plant Biology, 55: 294-388. See also here.
X. Ma et al. (2023):
A
reinvestigation of multiple independent evolution and Triassic-Jurassic origin of
multicellular Volvocine algae. Open access,
Genome Biology and Evolution, evad142, https://doi.org/10.1093/gbe/evad142.
"... The volvocine algae, a unique clade of chlorophytes with diverse cell morphology, provide an
appealing model for investigating the evolution of multicellularity and development
[...] the dating analyses indicate that the volvocine algae occurred during the Cryogenian
to Ediacaran (696.6–551.1 Ma), and multicellularity in the volvocine algae originated
from the Triassic to Jurassic ..."
!
MAdLand — Molecular
Adaptation to Land: Plant Evolution to Change.
The MAdLand community has made contributions to
publicly available data resources for plant (evolutionary) biology
and expanded the list of organismal systems accessible for research.
Note the statement of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German
Research Foundation) for the established
Priority
Programme SPP 2237. Worth checking out:
MAdLand Publications.
The interactive and downloadable
Plant Evolution Poster.
Exhibition posters "Grün,
Steine, Erde. Unsere Welt im Wandel" (in German, by M. Schreiber and S. Gould).
S. Magallón et al. (2015): A metacalibrated time-tree documents the early rise of flowering plant phylogenetic diversity. In PDF, New Phytologist. See also here.
! S Magallón et al. (2013): Land plant evolutionary timeline: gene effects are secondary to fossil constraints in relaxed clock estimation of age and substitution rates. Free access, American Journal of Botany, 100: 556-573.
! S. Magallón (2009): Flowering plants (Magnoliophyta). PDF file, In: S.B. Hedges and S. Kumar (eds.): The Timetree of Life (see here).
S. Magallón and A. Castillo (2009): Angiosperm diversification through time. Free access, American Journal of Botany, 96: 349-365.
! S. Magallón et al. (2013): Land plant evolutionary timeline: Gene effects are secondary to fossil constraints in relaxed clock estimation of age and substitution rates. Open access, American Journal of Botany, 100: 556-573.
! Susana Magallón and Khidir W. Hilu (2009):
Land
plants (Embryophyta). PDF file,
In: S.B. Hedges and S. Kumar (eds.): The Timetree of Life
(see here).
These expired links are now available through the Internet Archive´s
Wayback Machine.
L. Mander and H.T.P. Williams (2024):
The
robustness of some Carboniferous fossil leaf venation networks to simulated damage. Open
access, R. Soc. Open Sci. 11: 240086. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.240086.
"... We attacked fossil venation networks with
simulated damage to individual vein segments and leaf
blades. For both types of attack, branched venation networks
are the least robust to damage, with greater robustness
shown by the net-like reticulate networks
[...] A living angiosperm Betula alba was the most
robust in our analysis ..."
K. Mao et al. (2012): Distribution of living Cupressaceae reflects the breakup of Pangea. In PDF, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., 109: 7793-7798.
P.D. Mannion et al. (2014): The latitudinal biodiversity gradient through deep time. In PDF, Trends in Ecology & Evolution, 29: 42–50. See also here.
A.O. Marron et al. (2016): The Evolution of Silicon Transport in Eukaryotes. In PDF, Mol. Biol. Evol. See also here.
!
W.F. Martin and J.F. Allen (2018):
An
algal greening of land. Free access,
Cell, 174: 256-258. See also
here.
Note figure 1:
Streptophyte Algae and the Rise of Atmospheric Oxygen.
! C. Martín-Closas (2003): The fossil record and evolution of freshwater plants: a review. PDF file, Geologica Acta, 1: 315-338.
Patrick T. Martone et al. (2009): Discovery of Lignin in Seaweed Reveals Convergent Evolution of Cell-Wall Architecture. Abstract, Current Biology, Volume 19, Issue 2, 169-175. See also here.
N.P. Maslova et al. (2021): Recent Studies of Co-Evolutionary Relationships of Fossil Plants and Fungi: Success, Problems, Prospects. In PDF, Paleontological Journal, 55: 1–17. See also here.
! S. Mathews (2009): Phylogenetic relationships among seed plants: persistent questions and the limits of molecular data. Free access, American Journal of Botany, 96: 228-236.
W.J. Matthaeus et al. (2022):
Stems
matter: Xylem
physiological limits are an accessible
and critical improvement to models
of plant gas exchange in deep time. In PDF,
Front. Ecol. Evol., 10:955066.
doi: 10.3389/fevo.2022.955066.
See also
here.
Note figure 1: Vascular plant hydraulic pathway conducting element features.
M.R. May et al. (2021): Inferring the Total-Evidence Timescale of Marattialean Fern Evolution in the Face of Model Sensitivity. Free access, Systematic Biology, syab020, https://doi.org/10.1093/sysbio/syab020. See also here.
S.A.M. McAdam et al. (2021): Stomata: the holey grail of plant evolution. In PDF, Am. J. Bot., 108: 366–371. See also here.
!
R.M. McCourt et al. (2023):
Green
land: Multiple perspectives on green algal evolution and the earliest land plants. In PDF,
American Journal of Botany 110. See also
here (Free to read).
!
Note figure 1: Green plant diversification in the context of the fossil record.
"... Green plants, broadly defined as green algae and the land plants (together,
Viridiplantae), constitute the primary eukaryotic lineage that successfully colonized
Earth's emergent landscape.
[...] We present the process not as a step-by-step advancement from
primitive green cells to an inevitable success of embryophytes, but rather as a process
of adaptations and exaptations that allowed multiple clades of green plants ..."
!
J.C. McElwain et al. (2024):
Functional
traits of fossil plants. Open access,
New Phytologist.
Note figure 2: Examples of fossil plant functional traits.
Figure 4: A ranked list of paleo-functional traits that can be applied to fossil plants.
"What plant remnants have withstood taphonomic filtering, fragmentation, and
alteration in their journey to become part of the fossil record provide unique information on how
plants functioned in paleo-ecosystems through their traits. Plant traits are measurable
morphological, anatomical, physiological, biochemical, or phenological characteristics
[...] We demonstrate how valuable
inferences on paleo-ecosystem processes (pollination biology, herbivory), past nutrient cycles,
paleobiogeography, paleo-demography (life history), and Earth system history can be derived
through the application of paleo-functional traits to fossil plants ..."
J.C. McElwain et al. (2016):
Assessing
the role of atmospheric oxygen in plant evolution. Abstract, starting on PDF page 44.
Abstracts, XIV International Palynological Congress,
X International Organisation of Palaeobotany Conference, Salvador, Brazil.
! J.C. McElwain and S.W. Punyasena (2007): Mass extinction events and the plant fossil record. PDF file, Trends in Ecology and Evolution, 22: 548-557. See also here (abstract).
!
S. McLoughlin (2021):
Gymnosperms:
History of Life: Plants: Gymnosperms. In PDF, p. 476-500;
In: Elias, S. & Alderton, D. (eds.), Encyclopedia of Geology, Amsterdam, Elsevier.
See also
here.
!
Note fig. 8: One model for the evolution of seed plants
showing the stratigraphic ranges and relative abundance of the major groups.
S. McLoughlin (2017): Antarctica’s Glossopteris forests. In PDF, In: 52 More Things You Should Know About Palaeontology, eds. A. Cullum, A.W. Martinius. Nova Scotia: Agile Libre, p. 22-23. See also here.
S. McLoughlin and B.P. Kear (2014): Gondwanan Mesozoic biotas and bioevents. Abstract.
! Stephen McLoughlin (2001): The breakup history of Gondwana and its impact on pre-Cenozoic floristic provincialism. In PDF, Australian Journal of Botany, 49: 271-300. See also here (abstract).
B. Meyer-Berthaud et al. (2016): The terrestrialization process: a palaeobotanical and palynological perspective. In PDF, Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology, 224: 1–3.
John M. Miller (2006), School of Pure and Applied Sciences,
University of the South Pacific (USP):
!
Origin
of Angiosperms. Go to:
Insect-Plant
Mutualisms.
Still available via Internet Archive Wayback Machine.
! B.J.W. Mills et al. (2017): Nutrient acquisition by symbiotic fungi governs Palaeozoic climate transition. Open access, Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B, 373.
R.L. Mitchell et al. (2023):
Terrestrial
surface stabilisation by modern analogues of the earliest land plants:
A multi-dimensional imaging study. Open access,
Geobiology.
Note figure 1:
Summary chart highlighting the evolution of different CGC elements [cryptogamic ground covers] from
contrasting molecular, phylogenetic and fossil dating methods, and schematic land plant
phylogeny of modern terrestrial organisms, focussing on
the bryophytes and specific liverwort genera.
Sebastian Molnar, Department of Zoology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver: Evolution and the Origins of Life. A directory of introductions concerning evolution, with a bias to Plant Biology and Evolution. Excellent examples about how evolution works can be seen from the plant world. Go to: Angiosperm Origins and Evolution, or The Evolution of Polyploidy, and Summary: Polyploid Evolution.
! J.L. Morris et al. (2018): The timescale of early land plant evolution. In PDF, PNAS, 115. See also here.! J.L. Morris et al. (2015): Investigating Devonian trees as geo-engineers of past climates: linking palaeosols to palaeobotany and experimental geobiology. In PDF, Palaeontology, 58: 787-801. See also here.
!
Terence M. Murphy, Thomas L. Rost and Michael G. Barbour (2015),
University of California, Davis, CA:
Plant Biology.
Lecture notes, in PDF.
Please take notice:
Book
announcement.
See for instance: Bryophytes.
The
Early Tracheophytes.
These expired links are now available through the Internet Archive´s
Wayback Machine.
N.S. Nagalingum et al. (2011):
Recent
Synchronous Radiation of a Living Fossil. Abstract.
"Using fossil-calibrated molecular phylogenies, we show that cycads underwent a near
synchronous global rediversification beginning in the late Miocene, followed by a slowdown
toward the Recent. Although the cycad lineage is ancient, our timetrees indicate that
living cycad species are not much older than ~12 million years". See also
here.
In PDF, Science 334.
!
D. Naware et al. (2024):
Patterns
of variation in fleshy diaspore size and abundance from Late Triassic–Oligocene. Open access,
Biological Reviews, 99: 430-457.
Note figure 2: Genus richness of seed plants with fleshy and non-fleshy
diaspores from Late Triassic to Oligocene across mid- to high
latitudes and low latitudes.
"... Vertebrate-mediated seed dispersal is a common attribute of many living plants,
and variation in the size and abundance of fleshy diaspores is influenced by regional
climate and by the nature of vertebrate seed dispersers among present-day floras.
[...] We present a new data set of more than 800 georeferenced fossil diaspore occurrences
spanning the Triassic–Oligocene, across low to mid- to high palaeolatitudes ..."
Y. Nie et al. (2020): Accounting for uncertainty in the evolutionary timescale of green plants through clock-partitioning and fossil calibration strategies. In PDF, Syst. Biol., 69: 1–16. See also here.
Nature Science Update (December 8, 1999):
One for the Vine. "A prickly climbing
vine",
Vasovinea tianii (Gigantopteridales), that lived more than 250 million years ago
could shed light on the origin of flowering plants.
This expired link is available through the Internet Archive´s
Wayback Machine.
!
M.P. Nelsen et al. (2020):
No
support for the emergence of lichens prior to the evolution of vascular plants. In PDF,
Gebiology, 18: 3-13. See also
here.
!
Note figure 2: Crown age estimates for LFF [lichenforming fungi] and putative origins
of LFA [lichenforming algae].
"... As unambiguous fossil data are lacking to demonstrate the presence of lichens prior to
vascular plants, we utilize an alternate approach to assess their historic presence in
early terrestrial ecosystems. Here, we analyze new time-calibrated phylogenies of ascomycete
fungi and chlorophytan algae
[...] Coupled with the absence of unambiguous fossil data, our work finds no support
for lichens having mediated global change during the Neoproterozoic-early Paleozoic
prior to vascular plants..."
A.B. Nicotra et al. (2011): The evolution and functional significance of leaf shape in the angiosperms. In PDF, Functional Plant Biology, 38: 535-552. See also here.
!
Y. Nie et al. (2020):
Accounting
for uncertainty in the evolutionary timescale of green plants through clock-partitioning and
fossil calibration strategies. In PDF, Syst. Biol., 69: 1–16.
See also here.
!
Note figure 5: Time-tree of green plants.
!
"... By taking into account various sources of uncertainty, we
estimate that crown-group green plants originated in the
Paleoproterozoic–Mesoproterozoic (1679.7–1025.6 Ma),
crown-group Chlorophyta and Streptophyta originated
in the Mesoproterozoic–Neoproterozoic (1480.0–902.9
Ma and 1571.8–940.9 Ma), and crown-group land plants
originated in the Ediacaran to middle Ordovician (559.3–
459.9 Ma). ..."
S. Nigris et al. (2021): Fleshy Structures Associated with Ovule Protection and Seed Dispersal in Gymnosperms: A Systematic and Evolutionary Overview. Open access, Critical Reviews in Plant Sciences, 40.
! K.J. Niklas (2023): Deciphering the hidden complexity of early land plant reproduction. Free access, New Phytologist.
K.J. Niklas and B.H. Tiffney (2022):
Viridiplantae
Body Plans Viewed Through the Lens of the Fossil Record and Molecular Biology. Open access,
Integrative and Comparative Biology,
"... A review of the fossil record coupled with insights gained from molecular and developmental biology
reveal a series of body plan transformations that gave rise to the first land plants.
Across diverse algal clades, including the green algae and their descendants, the plant body plan underwent
a unicellular -- colonial -- simple multicellular -- complex multicellular transformation series. ..."
Note figure 4: Scenarios for the evolution of the first land plant sporophyte
resulting from delayed zygotic meiosis.
K.J. Niklas et al. (2017): The evolution of hydrophobic cell wall biopolymers: from algae to angiosperms. Abstract, J. Exp. Bot.
Karl J. Niklas (2016):
Plant
Evolution: An Introduction to the
History of Life. Book announcement.
Worth checking out:
!
Introduction.
Note figure 0.1: A suggested reconstruction of the Carboniferous (359–300 Mya) flora.
!
Figure 0.3: Estimates of the percent of present-day levels of atmospheric oxygen.
See also
here
(Google books).
! K.J. Niklas (2015): Measuring the tempo of plant death and birth. Open access, New Phytologist.
! K.J. Niklas and U. Kutschera (2010): The evolution of the land plant life cycle. Free access, New Phytologist, 185: 27-41.
K.J. Niklas and U. Kutschera (2009):
The
evolutionary development of plant body plans. In PDF,
Functional Plant Biology, 36: 682-695. https://doi.org/10.1071/FP09107.
See likewise
here.
K.J. Niklas (2004): Computer models of early land plant evolution. In PDF, Annu. Rev. Earth Planet. Sci., 32: 47-66.
Karl Niklas, Plant Biology, Cornell University (page hosted by Access Excellence): Plant Evolution: Adaptation or Historical Accident?. See also here, and there.
K.J. Niklas and T. Speck (2001): Evolutionary trends in safety factors against wind-induced stem failure. Open access, American Journal of Botany, 88: 1266-1278.
!
K.J. Niklas (2000):
The
Evolution of Plant Body Plans - A Biomechanical Perspective. In PDF,
Annals of Botany, 85: 411-438.
See also
here.
!
K.J. Niklas (1994):
Morphological
Evolution Through Complex Domains of Fitness. In:
Fitch, W.M. And Ayala, F.J. (eds.):
!
Tempo
And Mode In Evolution: Genetics And Paleontology 50 Years After Simpson. Open access!
National Academies Press (US); Washington (DC).
Karl Niklas, (Section of Plant Biology, Cornell University), Access Excellance, BioForum 4,
"Theoretical
Issues in Plant Biology".
Now available by the Internet Archive´s Wayback Machine.
BioForum is a series of lectures, presented by California Academy of Sciences, in which
scientists share their research results with high school biology teachers.
Plant Evolution: Adaptation or Historical Accident?
Is plant evolution largely adaptive or is it contingent on historical accidents?
Dr. Niklas discuss in some detail a computer generated
model dealing with the early evolution of land plants that can
be used to predict how plant architecture must change to assure
evolutionary success as the environment changes.
H. Nowak et al. (2020): Palaeophytogeographical Patterns Across the Permian–Triassic Boundary. Open access, Front. Earth Sci.
T. Nyman et al. (2012): Climate-driven diversity dynamics in plants and plant-feeding insects. Free access, Ecology Letters, 14: 1-10.
! S.L. Olson et al. (2018): Earth: Atmospheric Evolution of a Habitable Planet. PDF file, In: Deeg H., Belmonte J. (eds.) Handbook of Exoplanets. Springer. See also here.A.A. Óladóttir, Iceland GeoSurvey, Reykjavik, Iceland: An Introduction to the Mesozoic Palaeobotany. In PDF.
J. Ollerton and E. Coulthard (2009): Evolution of Animal Pollination. In PDF, Science, 326.
Mark E. Olson (2012): Linear Trends in Botanical Systematics and the Major Trends of Xylem Evolution. In PDF.
!
R. Omlor and J.W. Kadereit (2005),
Institut für Spezielle Botanik und Botanischer Garten, Mainz, Germany:
Evolution der Landpflanzen
(in German).
Still available via Internet Archive Wayback Machine.
!
J.G. Onyenedum and M.R. Pace (2021):
The
role of ontogeny in wood diversity and evolution. Free access,
American Journal of Botany, 108: 2331-2355.
See also
here.
! S. Opluštil et al. (2022): Carboniferous macrofloral biostratigraphy: an overview. Abstract, Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 512: 813-863.
!
Oxford Bibliographies.
Oxford Bibliographies offers
exclusive, authoritative research guides. Combining the best features of an annotated bibliography
and a high-level encyclopedia, this cutting-edge resource directs researchers to the best
available scholarship across a wide variety of subjects. Go to:
Fossils
(by Kevin Boyce).
Evolution
of Land Plants (by Charles C. Davis and Sarah Mathews).
Evolution
of Fungi (by David Hibbett).
Bryophyte
Ecology (by Heinjo During).
Barry A. Palevitz, "Discovering Relatives in the Flowering Plant Family Tree". The Scientist, Volume 13, 1999: Search for: "flowering plant". Registration procedure required.
! J.D. Palmer et al. (2004): The plant tree of life: an overview and some points of view. Free access, American Journal of Botany, 91: 1437-1445.
H.S. Pardoe et al. (2021): Palaeobotanical experiences of plant diversity in deep time. 2: How to measure and analyse past plant biodiversity. In PDF, Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 580. See also here.
! C. Parisod et al. (2010): Evolutionary consequences of autopolyploidy. Free access, New Phytologist, 186: 5-17.
!
J.G. Pausas et al. (2018):
Unearthing
belowground bud banks in fire-prone ecosystems. Free access,
New Phytologist, 217: 1387-1778.
Note figure 1: Stylized diagrams of 16 belowground bud bank (BBB) structures that enable plants
to resprout following fire.
Figure 3: Oldest time of origin for different
belowground bud bank (BBB) organs
in selected angiosperm
families.
"... Recognizing the diversity
of BBBs provides a basis for understanding the many evolutionary
pathways available to plants for responding to severe recurrent
disturbances. ..."
J.G. Pausas et al. (2017): Flammability as an ecological and evolutionary driver. In PDF, Journal of Ecology, 105: 289–297.
J.G. Pausas and D. Schwilk (2012): Fire and plant evolution. Free access, New Phytologist, 193: 301-303.
£. Pawlik et al. 2020):
Impact
of trees and forests on the Devonian
landscape and weathering processes with implications to the global Earth's system
properties – A critical review. In PDF,
Earth-Science Reviews, 205: doi 10.1016/j.earscirev.2020.103200.
See also
here.
Note fig. 2. Spatial configuration of continents in the Devonian.
Note fig. 3: Landscape reconstruction with stands of Pseudosporochnus, up to 4 m high, with
Protopteridium in shruby layer and herbaceous Drepanophycus
and Protolepidodendron in understorey.
Note fig. 6: A close look at trees diversification and selected accompanying events
in the Devonian.
Pearson Education, Inc.:
Overview
of Land Plant Evolution. Powerpoint
presentation.
Snapshot taken by the Internet Archive´s Wayback Machine.
!
D. Peris and F.L. Condamine (2023):
The
dual role of the angiosperm radiation on insect diversification. Free access,
bioRxiv.
See also
here.
"... We found that, among the six tested variables, angiosperms had a dual role that has changed
through time with an attenuation of insect extinction in the Cretaceous and a driver of insect
origination in the Cenozoic. ..."
D. Peris et al. (2017): False Blister Beetles and the Expansion of Gymnosperm-Insect Pollination Modes before Angiosperm Dominance. In PDF, Current Biology, 27. See also here.
! Rémy J. Petit and Arndt Hampe (2006): Some Evolutionary Consequences of Being a Tree. PDF file, Annu. Rev. Ecol. Evol. Syst., 37: 187-214.
D. Peyrot et al. (2019):
The
greening of Western Australian landscapes: the Phanerozoic plant record.
Journal of the Royal Society of Western Australia, 102: 52-82. See also
here.
Worth checking out:
!
Figure 9: Major plant-evolutionary events and vegetation changes in Western Australia.
H.W. Pfefferkorn et al. (2017): Impact of an icehouse climate interval on tropical vegetation and plant evolution. In PDF, Stratigraphy, 14: 365-376. See also here.
Pflanzenforschung.de (in German):
Der
Farnsamer aus dem Perm (2023).
Landeroberung
früher als gedacht.
Bereits die Vorfahren heutiger Landpflanzen haben an Land gelebt (2016).
Die
Entstehung der Pflanzenwelt
(2013).
The link is to a version archived by the Internet Archive´s Wayback Machine.
! A. Piombino (2016): The Heavy Links between Geological Events and Vascular Plants Evolution: A Brief Outline. In PDF, International journal of evolutionary biology.
N.D. Pires and L. Dolan (2012): Morphological evolution in land plants: new designs with old genes. In PDF, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, 367: 508-518.
! J. Pittermann et al. (2015): The structure and function of xylem in seed-free vascular plants: an evolutionary perspective. In PDF. See also here.
J. Pittermann (2010):
The
evolution of water transport in plants: an integrated approach. In PDF,
Geobiology.
See also
here.
! A.R.G. Plackett and J.C. Coates (2016): Life’s a beach – the colonization of the terrestrial environment. In PDF, New Phytologist, 212: 831–835. See also here.
Plantcode
(Stefan A. Rensing University of Freiburg, Faculty of Chemistry and Pharmacy).
Plantcode scientists are are interested in the evolution of plants sensu lato - i.e., the
photosynthetic eukaryotes. Go to:
List of publications.
Tõnu Ploompuu, Biology, Tallinn Pedagogical University, Tallinn, Estonia: Resting and active evolution. Possible preadaptations in the early evolution of Angiosperms. See also here.
George Poinar and Greg Poinar (2018):
The
antiquity of floral secretory tissues that provide today’s fragrances. Abstract,
Historical Biology. See also:
Schnupperten
schon Dinos Blumenduft?
Kreidezeitliche Blütenpflanzen könnten bereits Düfte produziert haben. In German,
Scinexx.de.
Z.A. Popper et al. (2011): Evolution and Diversity of Plant Cell Walls: From Algae to Flowering Plants. In PDF, Annu. Rev. Plant Biol., 62: 567-590.
Z.A. Popper and M.G. Tuohy (2010): Beyond the Green: Understanding the Evolutionary Puzzle of Plant and Algal Cell Walls. PDF file, Plant Physiology, 153: 373-383.
! J.C. Preston et al. 2022): Plant structure and function: Evolutionary origins and underlying mechanisms. Free access, Plant Physiology.
Ernst Probst, fossilien-news,
Mainz-Kostheim, Germany:
Rekorde der Urzeit aus der Pflanzenwelt
(in German).
The link is to a version archived by the Internet Archive´s Wayback Machine.
! K.M. Pryer et al. (2004): Phylogeny and evolution of ferns (monilophytes) with a focus on the early leptosporangiate divergences. Open access, American Journal of Botany, 91: 1582-1598.
J. Pšenicka et al. (2021):
Dynamics
of Silurian plants as response to climate changes. Open access,
Life, 11.
Note figure 1: Silurian time scale showing conodont and graptolite biozones,
stage slices and
generalized 13Ccarb curve.
Figure 2: Silurian palaeocontinental reconstructions.
C. Puginier et al. (2021):
Plant–microbe
interactions that have impacted plant terrestrializations. Free access,
Plant Physiology.
Note figure 1: 1 Phylogenetic tree of the Viridiplantae. showing
the evolution of the AMS [arbuscular mycorrhizal symbiosis], the putative evolutions of lichens and clades
that contain LFA [lichen forming algae] and terrestrial species.
Figure 3: Lichens and their tolerance against terrestrial-related constraints.
! M.N. Puttick et al. (2018): The Interrelationships of Land Plants and the Nature of the Ancestral Embryophyte. Free access, Current Biology, 28: 733–745.
W. Qie et al. (2023):
Enhanced
Continental Weathering as a Trigger for the End-Devonian Hangenberg Crisis. Open access,
Geophysical Research Letters, 50: e2022GL102640.
Note figure 1A: Latest Devonian global paleogeographic reconstruction.
"... The colonization of land plants during the Devonian is believed to have
played a key role in regulating Earth's climate. The initially rapid expansion of
seed plants into unvegetated or
sparsely vegetated uplands is considered to have caused enhanced rock dissolution
relative to clay formation on end-Devonian continents ..."
! Y.-L. Qiu et al. (2006): The deepest divergences in land plants inferred from phylogenomic evidence. In PDF, PNAS, 103: 15511-15516
Yin-Long Qiu and Jeffrey D. Palmer (1999):
Phylogeny
of early land plants:
insights from genes and genomes. In PDF.
Now recovered from the Internet Archive´s
Wayback Machine.
J. Quirk et al. (2015): Constraining the role of early land plants in Palaeozoic weathering and global cooling. Proc. R. Soc., B 282.
Y.L. Qiu and B.D. Mishler (2024):
Relationships
Among the Bryophytes and Vascular Plants: A Case Study in Deep-Time Reconstruction. Open access,
Diversity, 16. https://doi.org/10.3390/d16070426.
"... A tentative consensus, reached
ten years ago, suggested that bryophytes are a paraphyletic group, with liverworts being sister to all
other land plants and hornworts being sister to vascular plants
[...] A discussion is presented here on strengths and weaknesses of different types of
characters (morphological traits, nucleotide sequences, and genome structural arrangements) and
their suitability for resolving deep phylogenetic relationships ..."
! L. Ragnia and T. Greb (2018): Secondary growth as a determinant of plant shape and form. Open access, Seminars in Cell & Developmental Biology, 79: 58-67.
! J.-H. Ran et al. (2018): Phylogenomics resolves the deep phylogeny of seed plants and indicates partial convergent or homoplastic evolution between Gnetales and angiosperms. Abstract.S. Ratti et al. (2011): Did Sulfate Availability Facilitate the Evolutionary Expansion of Chlorophyll a+c Phytoplankton in the Oceans? In PDF, Geobiology 9, no. 4: 301–312. See also here (abstract).
P.K. Raval et al. (2023):
A
molecular atlas of plastid and mitochondrial adaptations across the evolution from
chlorophyte algae to angiosperms. Free access,
bioRxiv, doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2023.09.01.555919.
"... Algae and plants carry two organelles of endosymbiotic origin that have been co-evolving
in their host cells for more than a billion years. The biology of plastids and mitochondria can
differ significantly across major lineages ..."
J.A. Raven (2017): Evolution and palaeophysiology of the vascular system and other means of long-distance transport. In PDF, Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B, 373: 20160497.
J.A. Raven and M. Andrews (2010): Evolution of tree nutrition. In PDF, Tree Physiology, 30: 1050-1071. See also here.
J.A. Raven (2002): Selection pressures on stomatal evolution. PDF file, New Phytologist.
J.A. Raven and D. Edwards (2001): Roots: evolutionary origins and biogeochemical significance. PDF file, J. Exp. Bot., 52: 381-401.
R.R. Reisz and J. Müller (2004): Molecular timescales and the fossil record: a paleontological perspective. In PDF, Trends in Genetics.
!
S.S. Renner and D.D. Sokoloff (2024):
The
sexual lability hypothesis for the origin of the land plant generation cycle. Open access,
Current Biology, 34.
Note figure 1: Traits relevant to the evolution of the land plant sporophyte
plotted on a phylogenetic scaffold.
Figure 2: The evolution of the sporophyte under the antithetic and homologous hypotheses.
Figure 4: The sexual lability hypothesis.
S.S. Renner (2022):
Plant
Evolution and Systematics 1982–2022: Changing Questions and Methods as Seen by a Participant. In PDF,
Progress in Botany.
See also
here.
"... With DNA data came lab work, bioinformatics, and both the need and the possibility
to collaborate, which brought systematists out of their niche, gave comparative biology a
huge push, and resulted in a better integration of biodiversity studies within biology. ..."
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Great
moments in evolution: the conquest of land by plants. Abstract,
Current opinion in plant biology, 2018
"... Most probably, filamentous freshwater algae adapted to aerial conditions
and eventually conquered land.
[...] In the past few years, the ever increasing availability of genomic and
transcriptomic data of organisms representing the earliest common ancestors
of the plant tree of life has much informed our understanding of the conquest
of land by plants ..."
G.J. Retallack (2021): Great moments in plant evolution. In PDF, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS), 118. See also here.
Authored by the The Rhynie Chert Research Group, University of Aberdeen, with contributions and support by the Palaeobotanical Research Group, University of Münster, Germany, the Centre for Palynology, University of Sheffield, The Natural History Museum, London, and The Royal Museum, National Museums of Scotland: The Biota of Early Terrestrial Ecosystems, The Rhynie Chert. A resource site for students and teachers covering many aspects of the present knowledge of this unique geological deposit (including a glossary and bibliography pages). The website´s second part provides guidance for teachers in this subject area and as such will require a password to enter (obtainable from the authors).
J.D. Richey et al. (2021):
Modeled
physiological mechanisms for observed changes in the late Paleozoic
plant fossil record. Abstract,
Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 562.
"... (1) The existence of pCO2 and precipitation thresholds for loss of physiological
viability that provide a mechanism for replacement of wet-adapted lycopsids and
medullosans by marattialean tree ferns, which were tolerant of periodic drought, and the
subsequent dominance of seasonally dry-adapted cordaitaleans and conifers. ...
(2) Under drier conditions, the combination of higher drought tolerance and primary
productivity for marattialean tree ferns, conifers, and cordaitaleans provided an
ecophysiological advantage over lycopsids and medullosans. ...
although the shift to more drought-tolerant plants in the Late
Pennsylvanian and early Permian could have led to increased biomass and surface runoff,
their ability to affect climate was likely limited by aridity and changes in
vegetation density. ..."
!
Mark Ridley (2004):
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(Third edition). In PDF. 786 pages, Blackwell Publishing company. See likewise
here
(Google books), or
there.
Note especially:
Chapter 1.3, "A short history of evolutionary biology", Start at PDF-page 33.
! Part 5, Macroevolution.
Chapter 18, "The History of Life", Start at PDF-page 558.
About plant evolution note:
Chapter 3, "The Evidence for Evolution", Start at PDF-page 43.
Chapter 14, "Speciation", Start at PDF-page 416.
Chapter 19, "Evolutionary Genomics", Start at PDF-page 591.
J.J. Ringelberg et al. (2023):
Precipitation
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Science Advances, 9.
"... 95% of speciation occurs within a precipitation
niche, showing profound phylogenetic niche conservatism, and that lineage turnover boundaries coincide
with isohyets of precipitation. We reveal similar patterns on different continents, implying that evolution
and dispersal follow universal processes ..."
M.A. Romanova et al. (2023):
All together now:
Cellular and molecular aspects of leaf
development in lycophytes, ferns, and seed
plants. In PDF,
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doi: 10.3389/fevo.2023.1097115. See also
here.
"... To understand leaf origin in sporophytes of land plants, we have combined
the available molecular and structural data on development of leaves with
different morphologies in different plant lineages ..."
Note figure 10: Phylogenetic tree for land plants and their structural and regulatory innovations.
Figure 11: Hypothesized scenario for the evolutionary emergence of leaves in lycophytes.
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Anita Roth-Nebelsick et al. (2001): Evolution and Function of Leaf Venation Architecture: A Review. PDF file, Annals of Botany 87: 553-566. See also here.
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G.W. Rothwell et al. (2012): The seed cone Eathiestrobus gen. nov.: Fossil evidence for a Jurassic origin of Pinaceae. In PDF, American Journal of Botany, 99: 708–720.
G.W. Rothwell et al. (2009):
Is
the anthophyte hypothesis alive and well? New evidence from the reproductive structures
of Bennettitales. Free access,
American Journal of Botany, 96: 296-322.
Note fig. 1: Cycadeoidea spp. Characteristic features of Cycadeoidea plants.
!
Table 2. Contrasting characters of Bennettitales and Cycadales.
Gar W. Rothwell, Department of Environmental and Plant Biology, Ohio University, Athens, OH: Vascular Plant Morphology. Archived by Internet Archive Wayback Machine. This course covers the structure, development, reproductive biology and relationships of vascular plants. The course is structured to emphasize the evolutionary changes that led to the diversity of modern tracheophytes. Go to Cordaitales and Coniferales (PDF file).
Gar W. Rothwell, Department of Environmental and Plant Biology, Ohio University, Athens:
Angiophytes: Using Whole Plant Concepts to Interpret Angiosperm Origins.
Selected
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Links archived by the Internet Archive´s Wayback Machine.
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Dmitry A. Ruban (2012): Mesozoic mass extinctions and angiosperm radiation: does the molecular clock tell something new? In PDF.
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! P.J. Rudall (2021): Evolution and patterning of the ovule in seed plants. Free access, Biological Reviews. See also here.
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Tyson Sacco, Cornell University: Trends in Green Plant Evolution. Powerpoint presentation.
!
L. Sack and C. Scoffoni (2013):
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Note figure 6: Evolution of terrestrial plants and their traits,
including leaf vein traits against geological periods and time.
R.F. Sage (2004):
The
evolution of C4 photosynthesis. Free access,
New Phytologist, 161: 341–370.
"... C4 photosynthesis in the dicots originated in arid regions of low latitude,
implicating combined effects of heat, drought and/or salinity as important conditions
promoting C4 evolution. Low atmospheric CO2 is a significant
contributing factor ..."
!
T. Salles et al. (2023):
Landscape
dynamics and the Phanerozoic diversification of the biosphere. Free access,
Nature, 624: 115–121.
Note figure 1: Physiographic evolution and associated patterns of erosion–deposition
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Figure 4: Continental sediment deposition and physiographic complexity,
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"... we couple climate and plate tectonics models to numerically reconstruct the evolution of the
Earth’s landscape over the entire Phanerozoic eon, which we then compare to palaeodiversity
datasets from marine animal and land plant genera. Our results indicate that
biodiversity is strongly reliant on landscape dynamics
[...] On land, plant expansion was hampered by poor
edaphic conditions until widespread endorheic basins resurfaced continents with a
sedimentary cover that facilitated the development of soil-dependent rooted flora ..."
A. Salt (2019): When did the first flowers open? Botany One.
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H. Sato (2023):
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evolution of ectomycorrhizal symbiosis in the Late Cretaceous is a key driver
of explosive diversification in Agaricomycetes. Free access,
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dynamics of net diversification rates.
"... Ectomycorrhizal (EcM) symbiosis, a ubiquitous plant–fungus interaction in forests, evolved
in parallel in fungi
[...] findings suggest that the evolution of EcM symbiosis in the Late Cretaceous, supposedly
with coevolving EcM angiosperms, was the key drive of the explosive diversification in
Agaricomycetes ..."
H. Sauquet et al. (2022):
What
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In PDF,
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See also
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Note fig. 1: Hypothetical time tree of the angiosperms.
Note fig. 2. Crown-group angiosperm age estimates obtained in fossil-calibrated molecular
dating and palaeontological macroevolutionary modelling studies published over the
last 6 years.
!
H. Sauquet et al. (2017):
The
ancestral flower of angiosperms and its
early diversification. Free acces,
Nature Communications, 8.
Note figure 1: Three-dimensional model of the ancestral flower reconstructed.
"... We reconstruct the ancestral angiosperm flower as bisexual and radially symmetric,
with more than two whorls of three separate perianth organs each (undifferentiated
tepals), more than two whorls of three separate stamens each, and more than five spirally
arranged separate carpels ..."
Also worth checking out:
!
Was
war die erste Blüte der Erdgeschichte? In German,
by Ulf von Rauchhaupt, 2023, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.
S. Schachat et al. (2023):
Vegetational
change during the Middle–Late Pennsylvanian transition in western Pangaea. Abstract,
Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 535: 337-359.
"... Results indicate no substantive taxonomic turnover across the boundary. This stands in marked
contrast to patterns in mid-Pangaean coal basins where there is a large wetland vegetational turnover.
[...] immediately following the boundary in New Mexico, and for approximately half of the Missourian Stage,
floras previously dominated by hygromorphs become overwhelmingly
dominated by mesomorphic/xeromorphic taxa ..."
C. Schirarend and R. Vogt,
Botanischer Garten und Botanisches Museum Berlin-Dahlem, Freie Universität Berlin:
Von Nacktpflanzen und Schuppenbäumen.
Plant evolution in a nutshell (in German).
Part of the description of the exhibition
"Stammesgeschichte der Pflanzen" (in German).
These expired links are now available through the Internet Archive´s
Wayback Machine.
B.E. Schirrmeister et al. (2011): The origin of multicellularity in cyanobacteria. Open access, BMC Evolutionary Biology, 11.
H. Schneider, (2006), starting on PDF page 65:
Plant
morphology as the cornerstone to the integration of fossil and
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Themenheft Phylogenetisches Symposium Göttingen:
Der Stellenwert der Morphologie in der heutigen Phylogenetische Systematik.
This expired link
is available through the Internet Archive´s
Wayback Machine.
!
H. Schneider et al. (2004):
Ferns
diversified in the shadow of angiosperms. In PDF,
Nature, 428: 553–557.
See also
here
(abstract).
!
Note figure 1: Phylogenetic chronograms of ferns (a) and angiosperms (b), and proportional
lineages-through-time (LTT) plots for angiosperms and polypods (c).
"... we report divergence time
estimates for ferns and angiosperms based on molecular data,
with constraints from a reassessment of the fossil record. We
show that polypod ferns (>80% of living fern species) diversified
in the Cretaceous, after angiosperms ..."
!
J.W. Schopf et al. (2007):
Evidence
of Archean life: Stromatolites and microfossils. In PDF,
Precambrian Research, 158: 141-155.
See also
here.
! J.W. Schopf (2006): Fossil evidence of Archaean life. In PDF, Transactions of the Royal Society, B 361: 869–885.
!
M. Schreiber et al. (2022):
The
greening ashore. Free access,
Trends in Plant Science.
"... Two decisive endosymbiotic events, the emergence of eukaryotes followed by the
further incorporation of a photosynthesizing cyanobacterium, laid the foundation
for the development of plant life. ..."
! E. Schuettpelz and K.M. Pryer (2008): Fern phylogeny. In PDF.
ScienceDirect:
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SciQuest.com: Geology, Evolution upset: Oxygen-making microbes came last, not first.
D.H. Scott (1909), President of the Linnean Society: Darwin and Modern Science: The Palaeontological Record: Plants. Website hosted by "The Unofficial Stephen Jay Gould Archive".
M. Seale (2020): The Fat of the Land: Cuticle Formation in Terrestrial Plants. Free access, Plant Physiology, 184: 1622–1624.
! M.A. Selosse and C. Strullu-Derrien (2015): Origins of the terrestrial flora: A symbiosis with fungi? In PDF, BIO Web of Conferences, 4.
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!
D. Silvestro et al. (2020):
Fossil
data support a pre-Cretaceous origin of
flowering plants. In PDF,
Nature Ecology & Evolution.
See also
here.
"... Yet, our results indicate that an early,
pre-Cretaceous origin of angiosperms is supported not only by
molecular phylogenetic hypotheses but also by an analysis of the
fossil record ..."
D. Silvestro et al. (2016): Fossil biogeography: a new model to infer dispersal, extinction and sampling from palaeontological data. In PDF, Phil. Trans. R. Soc., B, 371. See also here.
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H.J. Sims (2012):
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evolutionary diversification of seed size: using the past to understand the present. Open access,
Evolution, 66: 1636–1649, https://doi.org/10.1111.
"... The fossil record indicates that the oldest seed plants had relatively small seeds, but the
Mississippian seed size envelope increased significantly with the diversification of larger seeded lineages
[...] Quantitative measures of
preservation suggest that, although our knowledge of Paleozoic seeds is far from complete,
the evolutionary trend in seed size is
unlikely to be an artifact of taphonomy ..."
S.A. Smith and J.M. Beaulieu (2024):
Ad fontes:
divergence-time estimation and the age of angiosperms. Open access,
New Phytologist.
"... When our results present a dramatically different view of life's history, such
as in the case of plant life, it may be more reasonable to consider errors in our model
or interpretation than to dismiss conflicting data outright. Like the iconoclasm of the
16th and 17th centuries, simplifying analyses and focusing on underlying biology
may lead to a clearer understanding of the evidence ..."
Stephen A. Smith et al. (2010): An uncorrelated relaxed-clock analysis suggests an earlier origin for flowering plants. PDF file, PNAS, 107: 5897-5902. See also here, and there.
Stephen A. Smith and Jeremy M. Beaulieu (2009): Life history influences rates of climatic niche evolution in flowering plants. In PDF, Proc. R. Soc. B, 276: 4345-4352. See also here.
! S.A. Smith and M.J. Donoghue (2008): History in Flowering Plants Rates of Molecular Evolution Are Linked to Life. In PDF, Science, 322. See also here (abstract).
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! D.E. Soltis et al. (2009): Polyploidy and angiosperm diversification. Free access, Am. J. Bot., 96: 336-348.
Pamela Soltis (website by American Institute of Biological Sciences):
Flowering Plants:
Keys to Earth´s Evolution and Human Well-Being.
Still available through the Internet Archive´s
Wayback Machine.
P.S. Soltis and D.E. Soltis (2004): The origin and diversification of angiosperms. Free access, American Journal of Botany, 91: 1614-1626.
!
D. Soltis et al.,
Florida Museum of Natural History (FLMNH), University of Florida:
Deep Time.
A comprehensive phylogenetic tree of living and fossil angiosperms.
Deep Time explore the ways in which angiosperm fossils can be appropriately integrated into
the phylogenetic framework for extant taxa, with the ultimate goal of forming a
comprehensive phylogenetic tree of living and fossil
angiosperms. This includes the evaluation and prioritization of the fossil record,
the critical appraisal of the age of fossils,
the construction of a morphological data matrix for fossils and extant angiosperms, the
integration of fossils into the angiosperm tree and the
calibration of divergence times.
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! J.S. Sperry (2003): Evolution of water transport and xylem structure. PDF file, International Journal of Plant Sciences. See also here (abstract).
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R.A. Spicer (1989):
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See also
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!
R. Spicer and A. Groover (2010):
Evolution
of development of vascular
cambia and secondary growth. Open access,
New Phytologist, 186: 577-592.
Note figure 1: Orientation of cells and tissues within
a woody stem.
Figure 2: A phylogeny of vascular plants
illustrating multiple origins of secondary
growth via a vascular cambium.
A.K. Srivastava, Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, Lucknow, India: Taxonomy, palaeobotany and biodiversity About the angiosperm origin (PDF file, page 2). CURRENT SCIENCE, VOL. 81, NO. 10.
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Now provided by the Internet Archive´s Wayback Machine.
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Hans Steur, Ellecom, The Netherlands:
Hans´ Paleobotany Pages.
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The evolution of plants.
A concise report of the development of the flora.
! P.F. Stevens and Hilary Davis, Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis:
Angiosperm Phylogeny Website.
The focus of this site is on angiosperms and emphasis is placed on plant families. You can also navigate from the
Orders-
or the Families-website.
Go to:
EVOLUTION OF LAND PLANTS.
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!
P.K. Strother and W.A. Taylor (2024):
A
fossil record of spores before sporophytes. Open access,
Diversity, 16. https://doi.org/10.3390/d16070428.
Note figure 3: Stratigraphic distribution of cryptospore categories and early trilete spores.
P.K. Strother (2023):
An
evo-devo perspective on no Ordovician land plants. In PDF,
Estonian Journal of Earth Sciences,
Note figure 1: Fossil record of microfossils related to land plant origins seen as character distributions.
!
P.K. Strother and C. Foster (2021):
A
fossil record of land plant origins from charophyte algae. Abstract,
Science, 373: 792-796.
"... we describe a Tremadocian (Early Ordovician, about 480 Ma) assemblage with elements
of both Cambrian and younger embryophyte spores that provides a new level of evolutionary
continuity between embryophytes and their algal ancestors. This finding suggests
that the molecular phylogenetic signal retains a latent evolutionary history of
the acquisition of the embryophytic developmental genome, a history that perhaps
began during Ediacaran-Cambrian time but was not completed until the mid-Silurian
(about 430 Ma). ..."
P.K. Strother and C.H. Wellman (2021):
The
Nonesuch Formation Lagerstätte: a rare window into freshwater life one
billion years ago. Open access,
Journal of the Geological Society, 178.
"... Nonesuch microbiota, when viewed as a Lagerstätte, opens up a window onto the early evolution of unicellular eukaryotes,
presenting an essential baseline of both eukaryotic diversity and cell structure well in advance of eukaryotic diversification
documented in marine deposits from the later Neoproterozoic. ..."
P.K. Strother et al. (2021): A possible billion-year-old holozoan with differentiated multicellularity. Open access, Current Biology, 31: 2658-2665.e2
P.K. Strother et al. (2011): Earth´s earliest non-marine eukaryotes. In PDF, Nature 473: 505-509. See also here (abstract). See also the supplementary information (PDF, 5 MB).
Paul K. Strother,
Palaeobotany Laboratory,
Weston Observatory,
Department of Geology & Geophysics,
Boston College,
Weston, Massachusetts:
Links
to Resources in Paleobotany, go to: Lectures,
"Cryptospores and the Origin of Land Plants"
(Powerpoint presentation).
Still available through the Internet Archive´s
Wayback Machine.
!
C. Strullu-Derrien et al. (2018):
The
origin and evolution of mycorrhizal symbioses: from palaeomycology to phylogenomics. Free access,
New Phytologist, 220: 1012–1030.
!
Note figure 1: Geological timescale with oldest known
fossils. Left: Antiquity of genomic traits related
to mycorrhizal evolution based on
molecular clock estimates. Right: Oldest known fossils.
Figure 5: Simplified phylogenetic tree showing the minimum stratigraphic ranges
of selected groups based on fossils (thick bars) and their minimum implied range
extensions (thin lines).
C. Strullu-Derrien et al. (2016): Origins of the mycorrhizal symbioses. PDF file, In: F Martin (ed.): Molecular Mycorrhizal Symbiosis, John Wiley & Sons.
C. Strullu-Derrien (2014): The earliest wood and its hydraulic properties documented in c. 407-million-year-old fossils using synchrotron microtomography. Abstract, Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, 175: 423-437.
D. Su et al. (2022):
Large-scale
phylogenomic analyses reveal the monophyly of bryophytes and neoproterozoic origin of land plants
Open access, Molecular Biology and Evolution, 38: 3332–3344.
!
Note figure 1: The concatenation species tree of land plants and their algal relatives.
!
Figure 2: The coalescent species tree of land plants and their algal relatives.
"... We found that studies favoring a Neoproterozoic origin of land plants (980–682 Ma) are informed more by
molecular data whereas those favoring a Phanerozoic origin (518–500 Ma) are informed more by
fossil constraints. Our divergence time analyses highlighted the important contribution
of the molecular data (time-dependent molecular change) when faced with contentious fossil evidence.
[..] A careful
integration of fossil and molecular evidence will revolutionize
our understanding of how land plants evolved.
D. Su et al. (2021):
Large-Scale
Phylogenomic Analyses Reveal the Monophyly of Bryophytes and Neoproterozoic Origin of
Land Plants. Free access,
Molecular Biology and Evolution, 38: 3332–3344.
"... we estimate that land plants originated in the
Precambrian (980–682 Ma), much older than widely recognized. Our study highlights the important contribution of
molecular data when faced with contentious fossil evidence, and that fossil calibrations used in estimating the timescale
of plant evolution require critical scrutiny. ..."
T. Su et al. (2022): Tracing the Evolution of Plant Diversity in Southwestern China. Open access, Diversity, 14. See also here.
M. Sundaram et al. (2019): Accumulation over evolutionary time as a major cause of biodiversity hotspots in conifers. In PDF, Proc. R. Soc. B, 286: 20191887. See also here.
Ken Sytsma, Department of Botany , UW-Madison, Madison, WI:M. Tanrattana et al. (2019): A new approach for modelling water transport in fossil plants. In PDF, IAWA Journal 40: 466–487.
D.W. Taylor and H. Li (2018):
Paleobotany:
Did flowering plants exist in the Jurassic period?
eLife, 7: e43421.
"... we infer that Nanjinganthus shows substantial similarity to predicted models of ancestral
characters and Early Cretaceous angiosperms, so the evidence suggests that it is a
Jurassic flowering plant. ..."
! David W. Taylor and Leo J. Hickey (1996): Flowering Plant Origin, Evolution & Phylogeny. Google books (some pages omitted); American Institute of Biological Sciences (Springer), 404 pages.
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E.L. Taylor and T.N. Taylor (2009):
Seed
ferns from the late Paleozoic and Mesozoic: Any angiosperm ancestors lurking there?
Open access, American Journal of Botany, 96: 237-251.
!
"... In our opinion, it will be more productive to attempt to solve Darwin’s
mystery if there were greater attention directed at mining the rock record in the
hope of discovering more informative and new specimens, than to continue
to construct new phylogenies using the same, often ambiguous characters. ..."
Worth checking out: Glossopterid vegetative and reproductive organs:
Note fig. 2: Suggested
reconstruction of Ottokaria zeilleri.
Fig. 10: Suggested
reconstruction of a Glossopteris megasporophyll with seeds
attached to adaxial surface.
12: Diagrammatic
reconstruction of Denkania indica.
Reproductive organs of Caytoniales and Corystospermales:
15.
Suggested reconstruction of Caytonia cupule showing attachment of
seeds and “stigmatic lip”.
16. Reconstruction
of Caytonanthus arberi.
19. Suggested
reconstruction of Umkomasia asiatica.
21. Diagrammatic reconstruction
of Umkomasia uniramia.
Reproductive organs of Corystosperms and Petriellales:
25.
Suggested reconstruction of Pilophorosperma geminatum.
28.
Suggested reconstruction of Pteruchus fremouwensis.
30.
Suggested reconstruction of Petriellaea triangulata.
32.
Diagrammatic cutaway of Petriellaea triangulata cupule.
Reproductive organs of peltasperms:
34.
Suggested reconstruction of Autunia conferta ovuliferous organ.
36.
Suggested reconstruction of two Autunia conferta megasporophylls.
37.
Suggested reconstruction of Peltaspermum rotula megasporophyll
showing several ovules.
39.
Suggested reconstruction of Peltaspermum thomasii axis bearing
numerous megasporophylls.
40.
Suggested reconstruction of Peltaspermopsis polyspermis.
41.
Suggested reconstruction of Lepidopteris frond with pollen organs of
the Antevsia-type at the tip.
42.
Suggested reconstruction of Antevsia zeilleri pollen organ
showing pinnate axis bearing clusters of pollen sacs.
W.A. Taylor and P.K. Strother (2024):
Plant
evolution: A tapetum is now effectively present in all land plant lineages. In PDF,
Current Biology, 34: R146-R148. DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2023.12.061.
See likewise
here.
"... Three independent lines of evidence lead to the
observation that the evolution of the plant spore
occurred before the evolution of axial, upright
plants ..."
! W. Testo and M. Sundue (2016): A 4000-species dataset provides new insight into the evolution of ferns. Abstract, Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 105: 200–211. See also here (in PDF).
Greg Thorn, Department of Biology, University of Western Ontario, Canada:Greg Thorn, Department of Biology, University of Western Ontario: Evolution of Plants (Powerpoint presentations). Navigate from here with information from the Syllabus. See e.g. Lecture 16: Evolution of Plants. The evolution of early angiosperms.
A.S. Thorpe et al. (2011): Interactions among plants and evolution. Free access, Journal of Ecology, 99: 729-740.
Bruce H. Tiffney (University of California, Santa Barbara), Access Excellance, BioForum 4, "Theoretical Issues in Plant Biology". BioForum is a series of lectures, presented by California Academy of Sciences, in which scientists share their research results with high school biology teachers. The Influence of Plants on the Evolution of Terrestrial Communities. "The Influence of Plants on the Evolution of Terrestrial Communities" is a tour de force through some 450 million years of plant evolution, giving you a feeling for the life forms based on sequential evidence of the fossil records and a consideration of the climates and major physical events that prevail.
!
A.M.F. Tomescu (2021):
Mysteries
of the bryophyte–tracheophyte transition revealed: enter the eophytes. Free access,
New Phytologist,
Note fig. 1: Timeline and evolutionary hypothesis for early land plants.
Worth checking out:
!
D. Edwards et al. 2022a):
Piecing
together the eophytes–a new group of ancient plants containing cryptospores. Free access,
New Phytologist, 233: 1440–1455.
!
D. Edwards et al. 2022b):
Earliest
record of transfer cells in Lower Devonian plants. Free access,
New Phytologist, 233: 1456–1465.
!
A.M.F. Tomescu and G.W. Rothwell (2022):
Fossils
and Plant Evolution: Structural Fingerprints and
Modularity in the Evo-Devo Paradigm. Free access,
Evodevo, 13.
See also
here.
Note fig. 8: The realization that a reproductive program can be
activated in the intercalary meristem of individual equisetacean internodes.
! A.M.F. Tomescu et al. (2009): Carbon isotopes support the presence of extensive land floras pre-dating the origin of vascular plants. In PDF, Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 283: 46-59.
A.M.F. Tomescu (2016): Development: Paleobotany at the High Table of Evo-Devo. Free access, Current Biology, 26: R505-R508.
E. Trembath-Reichert et al. (2015): Four hundred million years of silica biomineralization in land plants. Free Access, Proc. National Academy of Sciences USA, 112: 5449–5454.
!
C.J. van der Kooi and J. Ollerton (2020):
The
origins of flowering plants and pollinators. Free access,
Science, 368: 1306-1308.
See also
here
(in PDF).
! Alain Vanderpoorten and Bernard Goffinet (2009): Introduction to Bryophytes, Evolutionary significance of bryophytes. In PDF, Cambridge University Press. See also here.
A. Vasco et al. (2016): Challenging the paradigms of leaf evolution: Class III HD-Zips in ferns and lycophytes. In PDF, New Phytologist, 212: 745–758. See also here.
! A. Vasco et al. (2013): The evolution, morphology, and development of fern leaves. In PDF, Frontiers in plant science. See also here (abstract).
! A. Vatén and D.C. Bergmann (2012): Mechanisms of stomatal development: an evolutionary view. In PDF, EvoDevo, 3.
B. Vento et al. (2023): Phylogenetic relationships in Nothofagus: The role of Antarctic fossil leaves. In PDF, Acta Palaeontologica Polonica, 68.
G.J. Vermeij (2017): How the land became the locus of major evolutionary innovations. In PDF, Current Biology; 27: 3178–3182. See also here.
G.J. Vermeij and L. Dudley (2000): Why are there so few evolutionary transitions between aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems? In PDF, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 70: 541-554.
! Elizabeth Anne Viau, Charter College of Education, California State University, Los Angeles: World Builders, Session Eight, Terrestrial Botany, Plants on Land. Go to: Important Landmarks in the Evolution of Land Plants.
M. Vicent et al. (2014): Insight into fern evolution: a mechanistic approach to main concepts and study techniques. In PDF, Botanica Complutensis, 38: 7-24. See also here.
R. Vidal-Russell and D.L. Nickrent (2008):
The
first mistletoes: Origins of aerial parasitism in Santalales. In PDF,
Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 47: 523-537.
Provided by the Internet Archive´s Wayback Machine.
A. Villarreal et al. (2015): Divergence times and the evolution of morphological complexity in an early land plant lineage (Marchantiopsida) with a slow molecular rate. Abstract, New Phytologist. See also here (in PDF).
School of Science and Engineering, University of Waikato, New Zealand: Evolution for Teaching. Earth's History and Evolution. Teaching resources. Go to: Plant Evolution, Prokaryotes, Algae and Plants.
! M.W. Wallace et al. (2017): Oxygenation history of the Neoproterozoic to early Phanerozoic and the rise of land plants. In PDF, Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 466: 12–19. See also here.
! S. Wallace et al. (2011): Evolutionary development of the plant spore and pollen wall. Open access, AoB PLANTS, 2011, plr027.D.-M. Wang et al. (2015): Leaf evolution in early-diverging ferns: insights from a new fern-like plant from the Late Devonian of China. Annals of Botany.
Q. Wang and K.-S. Mao (2015):
Puzzling
rocks and complicated clocks: how to optimize molecular
dating approaches in historical phytogeography. In PDF,
New Phytologist. 209: 1353-1358.
See also
here.
(abstract).
X. Wang et al. (2018): Editorial: Evolution of Reproductive Organs in Land Plants. Open access, Front. Plant Sci., 9.
!
X. Wang (2017):
A
Biased, Misleading Review on Early Angiosperms. In PDF,
Natural Science, 9: 399-405.
Please note:
P.S. Herendeen et al. (2017):
Palaeobotanical
redux: revisiting the age of the
angiosperms. In PDF, Nature Plants 3.
See also
here.
X.Q. Wang and J.H. Ran (2014): Evolution and biogeography of gymnosperms. In PDF, Molecular phylogenetics and evolution. See also here.
! L.M. Ward et al. (2016): Timescales of Oxygenation Following the Evolution of Oxygenic Photosynthesis. In PDF, Orig. Life Evol. Biosph.,46: 51-65.
!
C.H. Wellmann et al. (2023).
Terrestrialization
in the Ordovician. Open access,
Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 532.
"... This contribution reviews the evidence for terrestrial organisms during the Ordovician (microbial,
land plant, fungal, animal)
[...] We conclude that the Ordovician was a critical period during the
terrestrialization of planet Earth that witnessed the transition from a microbial terrestrial biota to one dominated
by a vegetation of the most basal land plants. ..."
! C.H. Wellman (2014): The nature and evolutionary relationships of the earliest land plants. Abstract, New Phytologist, 202: 1–3. See also here (in PDF).
C.H. Wellman et al. (2003):
Fragments
of the earliest land plants. In PDF,
Nature, 425: 282–285.
See also
here.
G.D.A. Werner et al. (2014): A single evolutionary innovation drives the deep evolution of symbiotic N2-fixation in angiosperms. Open access, Nature Communications, 5: 4087.
Biology Department, Western Washington University, Bellingham, Washington: Plant Evolution. Powerpoint presentation. See also here, or there.
C.D. Whitewoods and E. Coen (2017): Growth and development of three-dimensional plant form. Abstract, Current Biology.
! N.J. Wickett et al. (2014): Phylotranscriptomic analysis of the origin and early diversification of land plants. In PDF, PNAS 111, see also here.
Niklas Wikström et al. (2001): Evolution of the angiosperms: calibrating the family tree. PDF file, Proc. R. Soc. Lond., B, 268: 2211-2220.
! Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:
Plant evolution,
Evolutionary history of plants,
Timeline
of plant evolution,
Paleobotany,
Plant
evolutionary developmental biology.
Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:
Category:Evolution of plants
!
Timeline
of plant evolution.
Evolutionary
history of plants.
Wikispaces, Tangient LLC,
San Francisco, CA (note the Wikipedia entry):
CDS Biology Website:
!
The
Colonization of Land by Plants and Fungi. Lecture notes, Powerpoint presentation.
Websites outdated. Links lead to versions archived by the Internet Archive´s Wayback Machine.
N. Wikström et al. (2022): No phylogenomic support for a Cenozoic origin of the “living fossil” Isoetes. OPen access, American Journal of Botany.
P. Wilf et al. (2023): The end-Cretaceous plant extinction: Heterogeneity, ecosystem transformation, and insights for the future. Open access, Cambridge Prisms: Extinction, 1, e14, 1–10.
! P. Wilf and I.H. Escapa (2015): Reply to Wang & Mao (2015): Molecular dates must be independently testable. In PDF.
! P. Wilf and I.H. Escapa (2015): Green Web or megabiased clock? Plant fossils from Gondwanan Patagonia speak on evolutionary radiations. In PDF, New Phytologist, 207: 283-290.
D.M. Wilkinson and T.N. Sherratt (2016): Why is the world green? The interactions of top-down and bottom-up processes in terrestrial vegetation ecology. In PDF, Plant Ecology & Diversity, 9: 127-140. See also here.
K.J. Willis and K.J. Niklas (2004): The role of Quaternary environmental change in plant macroevolution: the exception or the rule? In PDF, Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond., B 359: 159-172.
Kathy Willis and Jennifer McElwain (2014):
The
Evolution of Plants, Second Edition.
Go to:
!
Sample Material
(in PDF). About the evolutionary record and methods of reconstruction.
Kathy Willis, School of Geography and the Environment, University of Oxford, & Jenny McElwain,
Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago (Oxford University Press):
The Evolution of Plants.
Book announcement. Snapshot taken by the Internet Archive´s Wayback Machine. Go to:
PowerPoint
illustrations.
Illustrations from the book in PowerPoint format. See also:
!
Biome
maps.
Downloadable full-color images from the book.
Kathy Willis, School of Geography and the Environment, University of Oxford, & Jenny McElwain,
Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago (Oxford University Press):
The Evolution of Plants.
Book announcement. Go to: Chapter 06,
Flowering
plant origins (PDF file).
Snapshots provided by the Internet Archive´s Wayback Machine.
R. Williams (2021): Discovered: Fossilized Spores Suggestive of Early Land Plants. The Scientist.
S. Williams (2017):
The
Weird Growth Strategy of Earth´s First Trees.
The Scientist »
News & Opinion »
Daily News.
"Ancient fossils reveal how woodless trees got so big: by continuously ripping apart their
xylem and knitting it back together".
Kathy Willis and Jennifer McElwain:
The
Evolution of Plants. Oxford University Press, Second
Edition. Don't miss the
Companion Website
and some samples in
Google books.
Note chapter 1:
The
evolutionary record and methods of reconstruction (in PDF).
! J.P. Wilson et al. (2023): Physiological selectivity and plant-environment feedbacks during Middle and Late Pennsylvanian plant community transitions. Free access, Geological Society, London, Special Publication, 535.
!
J.P. Wilson et al. (2017):
Dynamic
Carboniferous tropical forests: new
views of plant function and potential for
physiological forcing of climate. In PDF,
New Phytologist, 215: 1333–1353. See also
here.
!
Figure 2 shows the fungal evolution and abundance of coal basin sediments over the Phanerozoic.
! S.L. Wing and L.D. Boucher (1998): Ecological aspects of the Cretaceous flowering plant radiation. In PDF, Annu. Rev. Earth Planet. Sci. 1998 26: 379-421.
! S.L. Wing et al. (1992): Mesozoic and early Cenozoic terrestrial ecosystems. In PDF. In: Behrensmeyer, A.K., Damuth, J.D., DiMichele, W.A., Potts, R., Sues, H., Wing, S.L. (eds): Terrestrial Ecosystems Through Time : Evolutionary Paleoecology of Terrestrial Plants and Animals. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, pp.327–416.
F.T. Winnie (2023; article starts on pdf page 11): Origin, Adaptations and Evolution of Land Plants. In PDF, Advanced Research in Biological Science, 5.
!
S. Woudenberg et al. (2022):
Deep
origin and gradual evolution of transporting
tissues: Perspectives from across the land plants. In PDF,
Plant Physiology.
See also
here.
Note figure 4: Summary of the early fossil record of transporting tissues.
!
Q. Wu et al. (2021):
High-precision
U-Pb age constraints on the Permian floral turnovers, paleoclimate change,
and tectonics of the North China block. Free access, Geology.
See also
here.
"... The great loss of highly diverse and abundant Cathaysian floras and the widespread invasion
of the Angaran floras under arid climate conditions in the North China block happened during
the late Cisuralian to Guadalupian, but its exact timing is uncertain due to the long hiatus. ..."
X. Zhang et al. (2017): How the ovules get enclosed in magnoliaceous carpels. PLoS ONE, 12: e0174955.
S. Xiao and Q. Tang (2018): After the boring billion and before the freezing millions: evolutionary patterns and innovations in the Tonian Period. In PDF, Emerging Topics in Life Sciences, 2: 161–171. See also here,
C. Xiong et al. (2013): Diversity Dynamics of Silurian-Early Carboniferous Land Plants in South China. PLoS ONE, 8.
Y. Xu et al. (2023):
How
similar are the venation and cuticular characters
of Glossopteris, Sagenopteris and Anthrophyopsis? In PDF,
Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology, 316.
See likewise
here.
Note figure 1: Geologic ranges of some representative reticulate taxa.
"... Considering the putatively close relationship of glossopterids (Glossopteris), Caytoniales
(Sagenopteris) and Bennettitales (here encompassing Anthrophyopsis) resolved as members of the
‘glossophyte’ clade in some past phylogenetic studies, cuticular features suggest that these groups are
not closely related. In addition, anastomosing venation, superficially
similar to that of Glossopteris, Sagenopteris and Anthrophyopsis appears to have arisen independently
in numerous other plant groups ..."
H. Xu et al. (2022):
The
earliest vascular land plants from the Upper
Ordovician of China. In PDF,
ResearchSquare, DOI: https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-1672132/v1.
!
Note fig. 4: Phylogeny and evolutionary timescale of early plant groups,
with stratigraphic ranges of several key land-dwelling characters.
!
H.-H. Xu et al. (2017):
Unique
growth strategy in the Earth´s first trees revealed in silicified fossil trunks from China. Abstract,
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America,
114: 12009–12014. See also:
!
D. Yuhas (2018):
Ancient
Tree Structure Is Like a Forest unto Itself.
Arboreal fossils reveal an unusual and complex structure.
Scientific American. See further:
Paläobotaniker
lüften das Geheimnis der Urbäume
(Spektrum.de, in German).
Y. Yang et al. (2024): The Systematics and Evolution of Gymnosperms with an Emphasis on a Few Problematic Taxa. Open access, Plants, 13. https://doi.org/10.3390/plants13162196.
S. Yashina et al. (2012):
Regeneration
of whole fertile plants from 30,000-y-old fruit tissue buried in Siberian permafrost. In PDF,
PNAS, 109: 4008-4013.
See also
here.
"... This natural cryopreservation of plant tissue over many thousands of years demonstrates a
role for permafrost as a depository for an ancient gene pool, ..."
Also worth checking out:
Scientists
revive a 30,000 year old Pleistocene-era plant
(by Gareth Branwyn, October 7, 2022).
! H.S. Yoon et al. (2004): A molecular timeline for the origin of photosynthetic eukaryotes. PDF file, Mol. Biol. Evol., 21: 809-818. See also here.
W. Yuan et al. (2023):
Mercury
isotopes show vascular plants had colonized land extensively by the early Silurian. Free access,
ScienceAdvances, 9; DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.ade9510.
Note figure 1: Conceptual model showing Hg cycling on Earth.
Figure 4: Critical records in Paleozoic sediments in stage/age level.
"... vascular plants were widely distributed
on land during the Ordovician-Silurian transition (~444 million years), long before the earliest reported
vascular plant fossil ..."
! A.E. Zanne et al. (2014): Three keys to the radiation of angiosperms into freezing environments. In PDF, Nature. Provided by the Internet Archive´s Wayback Machine.
N.E. Zavialova (2015): Evolutionary Transformations of Sporoderm Ultrastructure in Certain Monophyletic Lineages of Higher Plants. In PDF, Botanica Pacifica, 4.
! Z. Zhan et al. (2022): Origin and evolution of green plants in the light of key evolutionary events. Free access, Journal of Integrative Plant Biology, 64: 516–535.
L. Zhang et al. (2020):
The
water lily genome and the early evolution of flowering plants. Open access,
Nature, 577: 79–84.
Worth checking out:
Fig. 1d: Summary phylogeny and
timescale of 115 plant species. Blue bars at nodes represent 95% credibility
intervals of the estimated dates.
!
A.R. Zuntini et al. (2024):
Phylogenomics
and the rise of the angiosperms. Free access,
Nature. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-07324-0.
"... we build the tree of life for almost 8,000 (about 60%) angiosperm genera
[...] Scaling this tree to time using 200 fossils, we discovered that early angiosperm evolution
was characterized by high gene tree conflict and explosive diversification, giving rise to
more than 80% of extant angiosperm orders. Steady diversification ensued through the remaining
Mesozoic Era until rates resurged in the Cenozoic Era, concurrent with decreasing
global temperatures
[...] our extensive sampling combined with advanced phylogenomic methods shows the deep
history and full complexity in the evolution of a megadiverse clade ..."
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