The Evolution Of Plants
by K. J. Willis /
2002 / English / PDF
15.5 MB Download
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 D.N.A. 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.
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 D.N.A. 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.