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.
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Editorial Reviews
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`This 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.' CAB International 2003
`the recently published book by Willis and McElwain is a breath of fresh air. There is no doubt about it, this is an important work. Without being blinded by new methodologies, the ideas expressed shine out for their reforming chracteristics.' Global Ecology and Biogeography 2003
`the recently published book by Willis and McElwain is a breath of fresh air. There is no doubt about it, this is an important work. Without being blinded by new methodologies, the ideas expressed shine out for their reforming chracteristics.' Global Ecology and Biogeography 2003
About the Author
Kathy Willis is at School of Geography, University of Oxford. Jenny McElwain is at Assistant Curator, Paleobotany, Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Wonderfully written book.,
By
This review is from: The Evolution of Plants (Paperback)
This is from the my perspective as a basic research scientist and sometimes informal hiker and naturalist who never took zoology or botany too seriously, but on a whim wanted to know more about plant evolution.
This is a wonderful book. It is engagingly written, and more importantly isn't a litany of facts, but rather discusses the topic in the context of biomes, geology, and the evolutionary solutions reached by plants. One small modification would be useful. Although the book is remarkably jargon free a few more terms in the glossary would have been useful to the non specialist. This said, as a non-specialist I read this book cover to cover and highly enjoyed it.
20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fossil plants,
By Richard "biology maven" (United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Evolution of Plants (Paperback)
This is a user friendly sized book reviewing the evolution of plants. The oldest plants are found in rocks 3,500 million years old, the stromatolites and prokaryotes. From that beginning the book describes the evolution of the mosses and ferns, and the living trees with the longest geologic history: Cycads, and Ginkgos. The rest of the book describes the evolution of Gymnosperms and Angiosperms and flowering plants.
Well written and comprehensive, but not encyclopedic. I enjoyed reading and refering to it.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Good work,
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This review is from: The Evolution of Plants (Paperback)
A well explained evolution of plants linked with the major enviroment changes ocurred along Earth history. You end up learning alot of botanical concepts and undestanding the different evolutionary reasons which led to the diversity of extant plants. Very interesting.
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Inside This Book
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First Sentence:
Historically the study of evolution has concentrated almost exclusively upon the animal record. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
fossil plant taxa, fossil stomatal densities, global palaeogeographic reconstruction, ferns dicots, cold temperate biome, plant fossil record, reconstruction redrawn, warm temperate biome, enhanced tectonic activity, terrestrialization process, tropical everwet, unequivocal fossil evidence, extant vascular plants, pulsation tectonics, tectonic boundary conditions, changing continental configurations, overall species number, seed plant groups, woody savannah, fossil plant record, arborescent lycopsids, earliest vascular plants, resistant biomacromolecules, poleward extent, plant biogeography Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
North America, South America, South Pole, South Africa, Van Bergen, The Field Museum, West Gondwana, East African, East Antarctica, East Gondwana, Semi-Desert Subtropical, South-East Asia, Subtropical Paratropical New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Historically the study of evolution has concentrated almost exclusively upon the animal record. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
fossil plant taxa, fossil stomatal densities, global palaeogeographic reconstruction, ferns dicots, cold temperate biome, plant fossil record, reconstruction redrawn, warm temperate biome, enhanced tectonic activity, terrestrialization process, tropical everwet, unequivocal fossil evidence, extant vascular plants, pulsation tectonics, tectonic boundary conditions, changing continental configurations, overall species number, seed plant groups, woody savannah, fossil plant record, arborescent lycopsids, earliest vascular plants, resistant biomacromolecules, poleward extent, plant biogeography Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
North America, South America, South Pole, South Africa, Van Bergen, The Field Museum, West Gondwana, East African, East Antarctica, East Gondwana, Semi-Desert Subtropical, South-East Asia, Subtropical Paratropical New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 11
books:
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6
books
cite this book:
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- The Museum: Behind the Scenes at the British Museum by Rupert Smith in Back Matter
- North America (Countries: Faces and Places) by Bob Temple in Back Matter
- Biogeography of Mediterranean Invasions by R. H. Groves in Back Matter
- Quaternary Environments by Martin Williams in Back Matter
- The Rocky Mountains (World's Wild Places) by Bryce S. Walker in Back Matter
See all 11 books this book cites
- Plant Functional Genomics by Dario Leister on page 629
- The Mazon Creek Fossil Flora by Jack Wittry in Back Matter
- Evolutionary Ecology of Plant Reproductive Strategies by Tom de Jong in Back Matter
- Handbook of Photosensory Receptors by Winslow R. Briggs on page 368
- Phylogenetic supertrees: Combining information to reveal the Tree of Life (Computational Biology) by Olaf R.P. Bininda-Emonds on page 486
See all 6 books citing this book
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