Journal ArticleDOI
Evolution of Grasses and Grassland Ecosystems
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TLDR
The evolution and subsequent ecological expansion of grasses (Poaceae) since the Late Cretaceous have resulted in the establishment of one of Earth's dominant biomes, the temperate and tropical grasslands, at the expense of forests as mentioned in this paper.Abstract:
The evolution and subsequent ecological expansion of grasses (Poaceae) since the Late Cretaceous have resulted in the establishment of one of Earth’s dominant biomes, the temperate and tropical grasslands, at the expense of forests. In the past decades, several new approaches have been applied to the fossil record of grasses to elucidate the patterns and processes of this ecosystem transformation. The data indicate that the development of grassland ecosystems on most continents was a multistage process involving the Paleogene appearance of (C3 and C4) open-habitat grasses, the mid-late Cenozoic spread of C3 grass-dominated habitats, and, finally, the Late Neogene expansion of C4 grasses at tropical-subtropical latitudes. The evolution of herbivores adapted to grasslands did not necessarily coincide with the spread of open-habitat grasses. In addition, the timing of these evolutionary and ecological events varied between regions. Consequently, region-by-region investigations using both direct (plant fossils) and indirect (e.g., stable carbon isotopes, faunas) evidence are required for a full understanding of the tempo and mode of grass and grassland evolution.read more
Citations
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Ancient hybridizations among the ancestral genomes of bread wheat
Thomas Marcussen,Simen Rød Sandve,Lise Heier,Manuel Spannagl,Matthias Pfeifer,Kjetill S. Jakobsen,Brande B. H. Wulff,Burkhard Steuernagel,Klaus F. X. Mayer,Odd-Arne Olsen +9 more
TL;DR: It is implied that the present-day bread wheat genome is a product of multiple rounds of hybrid speciation (homoploid and polyploid) and lay the foundation for a new framework for understanding the wheat genome as a multilevel phylogenetic mosaic.
Journal ArticleDOI
Photorespiration and the Evolution of C4 Photosynthesis
TL;DR: Phylogenetically informed research indicates that the repositioning of mitochondria in the bundle sheath is one of the earliest steps in C(4) evolution, as it may establish a single-celled mechanism to scavenge photorespired CO(2) produced in the bundles sheath cells.
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Late Miocene global cooling and the rise of modern ecosystems
Timothy D Herbert,Kira T Lawrence,Alexandrina Tzanova,Laura C Peterson,Rocio P Caballero-Gill,Christopher S Kelly +5 more
TL;DR: A period of continental aridification and ecosystem change occurred about seven million years ago and a global sea surface temperature reconstruction identifies cooling temperatures and a strengthened meridional temperature gradient at this time.
Journal ArticleDOI
The sheep genome illuminates biology of the rumen and lipid metabolism
Yu Jiang,Yu Jiang,Yu Jiang,Min Xie,Wenbin Chen,Richard Talbot,Jillian F. Maddox,Thomas Faraut,Chunhua Wu,Donna M. Muzny,Yuxiang Li,Wenguang Zhang,Wenguang Zhang,Jo-Ann L. Stanton,Rudiger Brauning,W. Barris,Thibaut Hourlier,Thibaut Hourlier,Bronwen Aken,Bronwen Aken,Stephen M. J. Searle,David L. Adelson,Chao Bian,Graham R. Cam,Yulin Chen,Shifeng Cheng,Udaya DeSilva,Karen Dixen,Yang Dong,Guangyi Fan,I.R. Franklin,Shaoyin Fu,Pablo Fuentes-Utrilla,Rui Guan,Margaret A. Highland,Margaret A. Highland,Michael Holder,Guodong Huang,Aaron Ingham,Shalini N. Jhangiani,Divya Kalra,Christie Kovar,Sandra L. Lee,Weiqing Liu,Xin Liu,Changxin Lu,Tian Lv,Tittu Mathew,Sean McWilliam,Moira Menzies,Shengkai Pan,David Robelin,Bertrand Servin,David Townley,Wenliang Wang,Bin Wei,Stephen N. White,Stephen N. White,Xinhua Yang,Chen Ye,Yaojing Yue,Peng Zeng,Qing Zhou,Jacob B. Hansen,Karsten Kristiansen,Richard A. Gibbs,Paul Flicek,Christopher C. Warkup,Huw E. Jones,V. Hutton Oddy,Frank W. Nicholas,John C. McEwan,James Kijas,Jun Wang,Kim C. Worley,Alan Archibald,Noelle E. Cockett,Xun Xu,Wen Wang,Brian P. Dalrymple +79 more
TL;DR: A genome for ewe and ewe Sheep-specific genetic changes underlie differences in lipid metabolism between sheep and other mammals, and may have contributed to the production of wool.
Journal ArticleDOI
Sensitivity of plants to changing atmospheric CO2 concentration: From the geological past to the next century
Peter J. Franks,Mark A. Adams,Jeffrey S. Amthor,Margaret M. Barbour,Joseph A. Berry,David S. Ellsworth,Graham D. Farquhar,Oula Ghannoum,Jon Lloyd,Jon Lloyd,Nate G. McDowell,Richard J. Norby,David T. Tissue,Susanne von Caemmerer +13 more
TL;DR: Overall, the sensitivity of plants to rising or falling c(a) is qualitatively similar across all scales considered, and is characterised by an adaptive feedback response that tends to maintain 1 - c(i)/c(a), the relative gradient for CO(2) diffusion into the leaf, relatively constant.
References
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Journal ArticleDOI
Global vegetation change through the Miocene/Pliocene boundary
Thure E. Cerling,John Harris,Bruce J. MacFadden,Meave G. Leakey,Jay Quade,Véra Eisenmann,James R. Ehleringer +6 more
TL;DR: For example, this paper found that between 8 and 6 million years ago, there was a global increase in the biomass of plants using C4 photosynthesis as indicated by changes in the carbon isotope ratios of fossil tooth enamel in Asia, Africa, North America and South America.
Book
Phytoliths: A Comprehensive Guide for Archaeologists and Paleoecologists
TL;DR: The production, deposition, and dissolution of phytoliths have been extensively studied in the field of bioarchaeology as discussed by the authors, including the role of these artifacts in archaeological reconstruction.
Journal ArticleDOI
The evolution of C4 photosynthesis
TL;DR: Gene duplication followed by neo- and nonfunctionalization are the leading mechanisms for creating C4 genomes, with selection for carbon conservation traits under conditions promoting high photorespiration being the ultimate factor behind the origin of C4 photosynthesis.
Journal ArticleDOI
The Origins of C4 Grasslands: Integrating Evolutionary and Ecosystem Science
Erika J. Edwards,Colin P. Osborne,Caroline A.E. Strömberg,Stephen A. Smith,William J. Bond,Pascal-Antoine Christin,Asaph B. Cousins,Melvin R. Duvall,David L. Fox,Robert P. Freckleton,Oula Ghannoum,James Hartwell,Yongsong Huang,Christine M. Janis,Jon E. Keeley,Jon E. Keeley,Elizabeth A. Kellogg,Alan K. Knapp,Andrew D. B. Leakey,David M. Nelson,Jeffery M. Saarela,Rowan F. Sage,Osvaldo E. Sala,Nicolas Salamin,Nicolas Salamin,Christopher J. Still,Brett J. Tipple +26 more
TL;DR: A synthesis of grass evolutionary biology with grassland ecosystem science will further knowledge of the evolution of traits that promote dominance in grassland systems and will provide a new context in which to evaluate the relative importance of C4 photosynthesis in transforming ecosystems across large regions of Earth.
Journal ArticleDOI
What Limits Trees in C4 Grasslands and Savannas
TL;DR: The extent of this climate mismatch has been revealed by physiologically based global vegetation simulations and by large empirical data sets, and the implication is that ecosystem structure and function depend on demographic transitions.
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