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The Evolution of Plants
K. J. Willis and J. C. McElwain
392 pages
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numerous halftones and line drawings
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246x171mm
978-0-19-850065-0
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Paperback
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10 January 2002
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- This is the most accessible, modern, and comprehensive book on plant evolution ever published.
- ACCESSIBLE: Written in plain English to address an undergraduate audience. The authors avoid unnecessary jargon, for example giving geological time in terms of millions of years ago as well as names of the ages, and in using English equivalents for plant names more frequently than their latinate counterparts, e.g. seed plants (instead of gymnosperms), flowering plants (instead of angiosperms).
- MODERN: Includes consideration of the evidence from molecular biology; considers the current status of ancient DNA and the biomolecular record in plant evolutionary research.
- COMPREHENSIVE: Special 'Biome Maps' show the flora covering the Earth at different ages in the past. The book traces the patterns seen in fossil flora from the earliest green algae through to the present day.
- Focuses on periods of major evolutionary change.
- Addresses the rates and timing of the evolutionary change seen in the plant fossil record, and suggests possible driving mechanisms.
A major new undergraduate textbook on plant evoution
This is a broad but provocative examination of the evolution of plants from the earliest forms of life to the development of our present flora. Taking a fresh, modern approach to a subject often treated very stuffily, the book incorporates many recent studies on the morphological evolution of plants, enlivens the subject with current research on ancient DNA and other biomolecular markers, and places plant evolution in the context of climate change and mass extinction.
It is written to be
accessible to undergraduates, so, for example, geological time is discussed in terms of 'millions of years ago' as well as by the names of the ages, and English equivalents of plant names are prefered, e.g. seed plants (instead of gymnosperms), flowering plants (instead of angiosperms).
· Links up the trends/patterns seen in the fossil flora from the earliest green algae through to the present day.
· Covers the whole geological timescale, but focuses the chapters on periods when major evolutionary changes occurred.
· Special Biome Maps indicate the general trends in changing global plant distribution through time.
Readership:
First-year biology/botany undergraduates, and second-years on an evolution option.
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K. J. Willis, School of Geography and the Environment, University of Oxford, and J. C. McElwain, Lecturer in Palaeobotany and Plant Palaeoecology, University College Dublin
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"Essential and accessible reading for any student of _ evolution." - The Biologist, 2002 "The text is well written for an upper division undergraduate or beginning graduate student audience and attempts to incorporate a contemporary perspective on phylogenetics and paleoecology of the major groups of land plants, drawing on current literature throughout." - Stephen L. Jessup, Southern Oregon University, USA "Innovative, up to date, more incisive than many comparable level texts, bringing together physical and biological scientific enquiry in an exciting way." - Nigel Brown, University of Wales, Bangor "This is the finest palaeobotanical textbook for decades, and one
that captures extremely well the exciting renaissance the subject is currently experiencing." - Geological Magazine, 140, 2003
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1: The evolutionary record and methods of reconstruction
2: Earliest forms of plant life
3: The colonization of land
4: The first forests
5: Major emergence of the seed plants
6: Flowering plant origins
7: The past 65 million years
8: Mass extinctions and persistent populations
9: Ancient DNA and the biomolecular record
10: Evolutionary theories and the plant fossil record
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The specification in this catalogue, including without limitation price, format, extent, number of illustrations, and month of publication, was as accurate as possible at the time the catalogue was compiled. Occasionally, due to the nature of some contractual restrictions, we are unable to ship a specific product to a particular territory. Jacket images are provisional and liable to change before publication.
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