Plant Evolution

Plant Evolution PDF Author: Karl J. Niklas
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 022634228X
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 590

Get Book Here

Book Description
Although plants comprise more than 90% of all visible life, and land plants and algae collectively make up the most morphologically, physiologically, and ecologically diverse group of organisms on earth, books on evolution instead tend to focus on animals. This organismal bias has led to an incomplete and often erroneous understanding of evolutionary theory. Because plants grow and reproduce differently than animals, they have evolved differently, and generally accepted evolutionary views—as, for example, the standard models of speciation—often fail to hold when applied to them. Tapping such wide-ranging topics as genetics, gene regulatory networks, phenotype mapping, and multicellularity, as well as paleobotany, Karl J. Niklas’s Plant Evolution offers fresh insight into these differences. Following up on his landmark book The Evolutionary Biology of Plants—in which he drew on cutting-edge computer simulations that used plants as models to illuminate key evolutionary theories—Niklas incorporates data from more than a decade of new research in the flourishing field of molecular biology, conveying not only why the study of evolution is so important, but also why the study of plants is essential to our understanding of evolutionary processes. Niklas shows us that investigating the intricacies of plant development, the diversification of early vascular land plants, and larger patterns in plant evolution is not just a botanical pursuit: it is vital to our comprehension of the history of all life on this green planet.

Plant Evolution

Plant Evolution PDF Author: Karl J. Niklas
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 022634228X
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 590

Get Book Here

Book Description
Although plants comprise more than 90% of all visible life, and land plants and algae collectively make up the most morphologically, physiologically, and ecologically diverse group of organisms on earth, books on evolution instead tend to focus on animals. This organismal bias has led to an incomplete and often erroneous understanding of evolutionary theory. Because plants grow and reproduce differently than animals, they have evolved differently, and generally accepted evolutionary views—as, for example, the standard models of speciation—often fail to hold when applied to them. Tapping such wide-ranging topics as genetics, gene regulatory networks, phenotype mapping, and multicellularity, as well as paleobotany, Karl J. Niklas’s Plant Evolution offers fresh insight into these differences. Following up on his landmark book The Evolutionary Biology of Plants—in which he drew on cutting-edge computer simulations that used plants as models to illuminate key evolutionary theories—Niklas incorporates data from more than a decade of new research in the flourishing field of molecular biology, conveying not only why the study of evolution is so important, but also why the study of plants is essential to our understanding of evolutionary processes. Niklas shows us that investigating the intricacies of plant development, the diversification of early vascular land plants, and larger patterns in plant evolution is not just a botanical pursuit: it is vital to our comprehension of the history of all life on this green planet.

Concepts of Biology

Concepts of Biology PDF Author: Samantha Fowler
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781739015503
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Get Book Here

Book Description
Black & white print. Concepts of Biology is designed for the typical introductory biology course for nonmajors, covering standard scope and sequence requirements. The text includes interesting applications and conveys the major themes of biology, with content that is meaningful and easy to understand. The book is designed to demonstrate biology concepts and to promote scientific literacy.

The Plant Kingdom

The Plant Kingdom PDF Author: Samuel R. Rushforth
Publisher: Prentice Hall
ISBN:
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 382

Get Book Here

Book Description
The science of botany; Cells, reproduction, and life cycle; Evolution and classification of plants; Division schizophyta: the bacteria; Introduction to the algae: Division cyanophyta; Division chlorophyta: The gren algae; Division chrysopgyta: The golden algae; Division euglenophyta; Division pyrrphyta: The dinoflagellates; Division phaeophyta: The brown algae; Division rhodophyta: the red algae; Introduction to the fungi: The myxomycetes; Division mycophyta, class phycomycetes; Division mycophyta, class ascomycetes; Division mycophyta, class basidiomycetes; Lichens; Life on the land; Division bryophyta; Introduction to the vascular plants: Division psilophyta; Division lycophyta; Division equisetophyta; Division filicophyta; the ferns; Introduction to the seed plants.

The Evolutionary Biology of Plants

The Evolutionary Biology of Plants PDF Author: Karl J. Niklas
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 9780226580838
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 476

Get Book Here

Book Description
Provides a comprehensive synthesis of modern evolutionary biology as it relates to plants. This text recounts the saga of plant life from its origins to the radiation of the flowering plants. Through computer-generated "walks" it shows how living plants might have evolved.

Paleobotany and the Evolution of Plants

Paleobotany and the Evolution of Plants PDF Author: Wilson N. Stewart
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521382946
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 544

Get Book Here

Book Description
This 1993 textbook describes and explains the origin and evolution of plants as revealed by the fossil record.

The Art of Plant Evolution

The Art of Plant Evolution PDF Author: W. John Kress
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 328

Get Book Here

Book Description
Book published on the occasion of exhibition at Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art at Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, in 2009.

Paleobotany

Paleobotany PDF Author: Edith L. Taylor
Publisher: Academic Press
ISBN: 008055783X
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 1253

Get Book Here

Book Description
This book provides up-to-date coverage of fossil plants from Precambrian life to flowering plants, including fungi and algae. It begins with a discussion of geologic time, how organisms are preserved in the rock record, and how organisms are studied and interpreted and takes the student through all the relevant uses and interpretations of fossil plants. With new chapters on additional flowering plant families, paleoecology and the structure of ancient plant communities, fossil plants as proxy records for paleoclimate, new methodologies used in phylogenetic reconstruction and the addition of new fossil plant discoveries since 1993, this book provides the most comprehensive account of the geologic history and evolution of microbes, algae, fungi, and plants through time. - Major revision of a 1993 classic reference - Lavishly illustrated with 1,800 images and user friendly for use by paleobotanists, biologists, geologists and other related scientists - Includes an expanded glossary with an extensive up-to-date bibliography and a comprehensive index - Provides extensive coverage of fungi and other microbes, and major groups of land plants both living and extinct

Green Plants

Green Plants PDF Author: Peter R. Bell
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521646734
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 364

Get Book Here

Book Description
The central theme of Green Plants, first published in 2000, is the astonishing diversity of forms found in the plant kingdom, from the simplicity of prokaryotic algae to the myriad complexities of flowering plants. The book is arranged according to generally accepted classification schemes, beginning with algae (prokaryotic and eukaryotic) and moving through mosses, liverworts, fern allies, ferns and gymnosperms to flowering plants. Copiously illustrated throughout, it provides a concise account of all algae and land plants, with information on topics from cellular structure to life cycles and reproduction. The authors maintain a refreshingly cautious approach in discussions of possible phylogenetic relationships and include newly emerging information on features of plants known only as fossils. This edition has been completely updated to reflect current views on the origin of the major groups of plants, providing a resource for students of botany, and for researchers needing a comprehensive reference to the plant kingdom.

Wonders of the Plant Kingdom

Wonders of the Plant Kingdom PDF Author: Wolfgang Stuppy
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 022621592X
Category : Gardening
Languages : en
Pages : 157

Get Book Here

Book Description
Compared to the obvious complexity of animals, plants at a glance seem relatively simple in form. But that simplicity is deceptive: the plants around us are the result of millennia of incredible evolutionary adaptations that have allowed them to survive, and thrive, under wildly changing conditions and in remarkably specific ecological niches. Much of this innovation, however, is invisible to the naked eye. With Wonders of the Plant Kingdom, the naked eye gets an unforgettable boost. A stunning collaboration between science and art, this gorgeous book presents hundreds of images of plants taken with a scanning electron microscope and hand-colored by artist Rob Kesseler to reveal the awe-inspiring adaptations all around us. The surface of a peach—with its hairs, or trichomes, and sunken stomata, or breathing pores—emerges from these pages in microscopic detail. The dust-like seeds of the smallest cactus species in the world, the Blossfeldia liliputana—which measures just twelve millimeters fully grown—explode here with form, color, and character, while the flower bud of a kaffir lime, cross-sectioned, reveals the complex of a flower bud with the all-important pistil in the center. Accompanying these extraordinary images are up-to-date explanations of the myriad ways that these plants have ensured their own survival—and, by proxy, our own. Gardeners and science buffs alike will marvel at this wholly new perspective on the world of plant diversity.

The Emerald Planet

The Emerald Planet PDF Author: David Beerling
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0192529781
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 381

Get Book Here

Book Description
Plants have profoundly moulded the Earth's climate and the evolutionary trajectory of life. Far from being 'silent witnesses to the passage of time', plants are dynamic components of our world, shaping the environment throughout history as much as that environment has shaped them. In The Emerald Planet, David Beerling puts plants centre stage, revealing the crucial role they have played in driving global changes in the environment, in recording hidden facets of Earth's history, and in helping us to predict its future. His account draws together evidence from fossil plants, from experiments with their living counterparts, and from computer models of the 'Earth System', to illuminate the history of our planet and its biodiversity. This new approach reveals how plummeting carbon dioxide levels removed a barrier to the evolution of the leaf; how plants played a starring role in pushing oxygen levels upwards, allowing spectacular giant insects to thrive in the Carboniferous; and it strengthens fascinating and contentious fossil evidence for an ancient hole in the ozone layer. Along the way, Beerling introduces a lively cast of pioneering scientists from Victorian times onwards whose discoveries provided the crucial background to these and the other puzzles. This understanding of our planet's past sheds a sobering light on our own climate-changing activities, and offers clues to what our climatic and ecological futures might look like. There could be no more important time to take a close look at plants, and to understand the history of the world through the stories they tell. Oxford Landmark Science books are 'must-read' classics of modern science writing which have crystallized big ideas, and shaped the way we think.