Product Description

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.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #11428 in Books
• Published on: 2002-01-10
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 392 pages

The Biologist, 2002
"Essential and accessible reading for any student of evolution."

Review
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 )

Customer Reviews

Wow!
Well there are lots of reviews of this on US Amazon.Suffice it to say that even a total amateur (me) can follow this with effort and that the book is extremely well written and utterly fascinating. For a start you can not follow the history of insects or vertebrates without knowing the development of plants.

Who would have thought that the most recent plant group to evolve , and in relatively modern times, were....cacti! Or that plants were relatively uneffected by any of the major periods of extinction:think like a gardener- you can hack 'em down but you can't get rid of them. Even The Home Depot has noticed people's interest in 'living fossils'.It has the Sago Palm (very wrongly) labelled "The world's oldest plant known to man".Still, you have to have one in your garden!!