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The Biology and Evolution of Fossil Plants
01 Jan 1993-
TL;DR: The structure and organization of vascular plants early land plants with conducting tissue lycopods sphenophytes ferns progymnosperms origin and evolution of the seed habit, and plant/animal interactions.
Abstract: Precambrian life fungi, bacteria and lichens algae bryophytes terrestrialization of the land the structure and organization of vascular plants early land plants with conducting tissue lycopods sphenophytes ferns progymnosperms origin and evolution of the seed habit palaeozoic seed ferns mesozoic seed ferns palaeozoic and mesozoic foliage cycadophytes ginkgophytes gymnsoperms with obscure affinities cordaites conifers flowering plants plant/animal interactions.
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University of Tasmania1, Yale University2, University of California, Santa Barbara3, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution4, University of São Paulo5, University of Cape Town6, South Dakota State University7, Columbia University8, California Institute of Technology9, University of Bristol10, United States Geological Survey11, University of California, Los Angeles12, University of California, Berkeley13, Monash University14, Brown University15, Ohio State University16, Royal Holloway, University of London17, University of Arizona18, VU University Amsterdam19, Arizona State University20
TL;DR: What is known and what is needed to develop a holistic understanding of the role of fire in the Earth system are reviewed, particularly in view of the pervasive impact of fires and the likelihood that they will become increasingly difficult to control as climate changes.
Abstract: Fire is a worldwide phenomenon that appears in the geological record soon after the appearance of terrestrial plants. Fire influences global ecosystem patterns and processes, including vegetation distribution and structure, the carbon cycle, and climate. Although humans and fire have always coexisted, our capacity to manage fire remains imperfect and may become more difficult in the future as climate change alters fire regimes. This risk is difficult to assess, however, because fires are still poorly represented in global models. Here, we discuss some of the most important issues involved in developing a better understanding of the role of fire in the Earth system.
2,365 citations
TL;DR: It is hypothesised that roots gradually evolved from rhizomes to provide more suitable habitats for mycorrhizal fungi and provide plants with complex branching and leaves with water and nutrients.
Abstract: Summary Here, the coevolution of mycorrhizal fungi and roots is assessed in the light of evidence now available, from palaeobotanical and morphological studies and the analysis of DNA-based phylogenies. The first bryophyte-like land plants, in the early Devonian (400 million years ago), had endophytic associations resembling vesicular‐ arbuscular mycorrhizas (VAM) even before roots evolved. Mycorrhizal evolution would have progressed from endophytic hyphae towards balanced associations where partners were interdependent due to the exchange of limiting energy and nutrient resources. Most mycorrhizas are mutualistic, but in some cases the trend for increasing plant control of fungi culminates in the exploitative mycorrhizas of achlorophyllous, mycoheterotrophic plants. Ectomycorrhizal, ericoid and orchid mycorrhizas, as well as nonmycorrhizal roots, evolved during the period of rapid angiosperm radiation in the Cretaceous. It is hypothesised that roots gradually evolved from rhizomes to provide more suitable habitats for mycorrhizal fungi and provide plants with complex branching and leaves with water and nutrients. Selection pressures have caused the morphological divergence of roots with different types of mycorrizas. Root cortex thickness and exodermis suberization are greatest in obligately mycorrhizal plants, while nonmycorrhizal plants tend to have fine roots, with more roots hairs and relatively advanced chemical defences. Major coevolutionary trends and the relative success of plants with different root types are discussed.
1,308 citations
TL;DR: A recent surge of interest in palaeobotanical discoveries and advances in the systematics of living plants provides a revised perspective on the evolution of early land plants and suggests new directions for future research.
Abstract: The origin and early evolution of land plants in the mid-Palaeozoic era, between about 480 and 360 million years ago, was an important event in the history of life, with far-reaching consequences for the evolution of terrestrial organisms and global environments. A recent surge of interest, catalysed by palaeobotanical discoveries and advances in the systematics of living plants, provides a revised perspective on the evolution of early land plants and suggests new directions for future research.
1,257 citations
TL;DR: Fossilized fungal hyphae and spores from the Ordovician of Wisconsin strongly resemble modern arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (Glomales, Zygomycetes), indicating that Glomales-like fungi were present at a time when the land flora most likely only consisted of plants on the bryophytic level.
Abstract: Fossilized fungal hyphae and spores from the Ordovician of Wisconsin (with an age of about 460 million years) strongly resemble modern arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (Glomales, Zygomycetes). These fossils indicate that Glomales-like fungi were present at a time when the land flora most likely only consisted of plants on the bryophytic level. Thus, these fungi may have played a crucial role in facilitating the colonization of land by plants, and the fossils support molecular estimates of fungal phylogeny that place the origin of the major groups of terrestrial fungi (Ascomycota, Basidiomycota, and Glomales) around 600 million years ago.
1,045 citations
TL;DR: It is demonstrated that the phylogeny of MADS-box genes was strongly correlated with the origin and evolution of plant reproductive structures such as ovules and flowers, and it seems likely that changes in MADs-box gene structure, expression and function have been a major cause for innovations in reproductive development during land plant evolution.
Abstract: Evolutionary developmental genetics (evodevotics) is a novel scientific endeavor which assumes that changes in developmental control genes are a major aspect of evolutionary changes in morphology. Understanding the phylogeny of developmental control genes may thus help us to understand the evolution of plant and animal form. The principles of evodevotics are exemplified by outlining the role of MADS-box genes in the evolution of plant reproductive structures. In extant eudicotyledonous flowering plants, MADS-box genes act as homeotic selector genes determining floral organ identity and as floral meristem identity genes. By reviewing current knowledge about MADS-box genes in ferns, gymnosperms and different types of angiosperms, we demonstrate that the phylogeny of MADS-box genes was strongly correlated with the origin and evolution of plant reproductive structures such as ovules and flowers. It seems likely, therefore, that changes in MADS-box gene structure, expression and function have been a major cause for innovations in reproductive development during land plant evolution, such as seed, flower and fruit formation.
772 citations
Cites background from "The Biology and Evolution of Fossil..."
...According to molecular data, the last common ancestor of extant seed plants existed about 300 MYA – recent estimations range from 285 to 348 MYA [40, 108] –, and earliest fossil evidence of gymnosperms dates back about 350–365 MYA [7, 121]....
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...For example, the oldest known seed plant ( Elkinsia) has been preserved in the fossil record of that time interval (Late Devonian, about 365 MYA), and different intermediate stages in the evolution of the ovule have been found in the fossil record of the Lower Carboniferous, about 350 MYA [121]....
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