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Major Evolutionary Transitions in Flowering Plant Reproduction

The first volume to address the study of evolutionary transitions in plants, Major Evolutionary Transitions in Flowering Plant Reproduction brings together compelling work from the three areas of significant innovation in plant biology: evolution and adaptation in flowers and pollination, mating patterns and gender strategies, and asexual reproduction and polyploidy. Spencer C. H. Barrett assembles here a distinguished group of authors who address evolutionary transitions using comparative and phylogenetic approaches, the tools of genomics, population genetics, and theoretical modeling, and through studies in development and field experiments in ecology. With special focus on evolutionary transitions and shifts in reproductive characters—key elements of biological diversification and research in evolutionary biology—Major Evolutionary Transitions in Flowering Plant Reproduction is the most up-to-date treatment of a fast-moving area of evolutionary biology and ecology.

216 pages | 12 color plates, 40 halftones | 8 1/2 x 11 | © 2008

Biological Sciences: Biology--Systematics, Botany, Ecology, Evolutionary Biology

Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION

Major Evolutionary Transitions in Flowering Plant Reproduction: An Overview

Spencer C. H. Barrett

FLOWERS AND POLLINATION

Evolutionary Transitions in Floral Color

Mark D. Rausher

 

Explaining Evolutionary Shifts between Bee and Hummingbird Pollination: Convergence, Divergence, and Directionality

James D. Thomson and Paul Wilson

The Influence of Canopy Position, Pollinator Syndrome, and Region on Evolutionary Transitions in Pollinator Guild Size

R. D. Sargent and J. C. Vamosi

A Phylogenetic Analysis of the Evolution of Wind Pollination in the Angiosperms

Jannice Friedman and Spencer C. H. Barrett

Function and Evolution of Aggregated Pollen in Angiosperms

Lawrence D. Harder and Steven D. Johnson

Origin of the Fittest and Survival of the Fittest: Relating Female Gametophyte Development to Endosperm Genetics

William E. Friedman, Eric N. Madrid, and Joseph H. Williams

MATING PATTERNS AND GENDER STRATEGIES

Loss of Self-Incompatibility and Its Evolutionary Consequences

Boris Igic, Russell Lande, and Joshua R. Kohn

Genomic Consequences of Outcrossing and Selfing in Plants

Stephen I. Wright, Rob W. Ness, John Paul Foxe, and Spencer C. H. Barrett

On the Evolution of Self-Fertilization in a Metapopulation

Daniel J. Schoen and Jeremiah W. Busch

Gender Variation and Transitions between Sexual Systems in Mercurialis annua (Euphorbiaceae)

John R. Pannell, Marcel E. Dorken, Benoit Pujol, and Regina Berjano

A Phylogenetic Study of Evolutionary Transitions in Sexual Systems in Australasian Wurmbea (Colchicaceae)

Andrea L. Case, Sean W. Graham, Terry D. Macfarlane, and Spencer C. H. Barrett

ASEXUAL REPRODUCTION AND POLYPLOIDY

The Evolutionary Maintenance of Sexual Reproduction: Evidence from the Ecological Distribution of Asexual Reproduction in Clonal Plants

Jonathan Silvertown

The Dynamic Nature of Apomixis in the Angiosperms

Jeannette Whitton, Christopher J. Sears, Eric J. Baack, and Sarah P. Otto

Cryptic Sex within Male-Sterile Polyploid Populations of the Easter Daisy, Townsendia hookeri

Stacey Lee Thompson, Gina Choe, Kermit Ritland, and Jeannette Whitton

Mating Consequences of Polyploid Evolution in Flowering Plants: Current Trends and Insights from Synthetic Polyploids

Brian C. Husband, Barbara Ozimec, Sara L. Martin, and Lisa Pollock

Index

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