The University of Chicago Press Plant Evolution: An Introduction to the History of Life

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 palaeobotany, Karl J. Niklas’sPlant Evolution offers fresh insight into these differences. Following up on his landmark bookThe Evolutionary Biology of Plants—in which he drew on cutting-edge computer simulations that used plants as models to illuminate key evolutionary theory—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. Following up on his landmark book, The Evolutionary Biology of Plants (The University of Chicago Press, 1997), Karl J. Niklas sheds new light on the major aspects of evolutionary theory using plants rather than animals as his medium. Ten years in the making, Plant Evolution: Essays About a Green World explores the flourishing world of molecular biology, taking into account new research that further illuminates the intricacies of plant development including genetics, gene regulatory networks, phenotype mapping, and multicellularity. Benefiting from Niklas’s expertise in organismal biology, this volume presents a tour-de-force that treads new ground by exploring how generally accepted evolutionary views sometimes fail to hold true for plants. Throughout, Niklas offers fresh insights on the patterns of plant evolution and the modes of studying the underlying process that drives those patterns. Leaving no leaf unturned, he also explores the evolution of diversification of early vascular land plants, providing a theoretical background from which to understand the fossil record. With wide-ranging consideration of paleontology, genetics, development modeling, and theory, Plant Evolution is sure to sprout new ideas in students and scientists alike. Autorid: Karl J. Niklas