2/23/11 2/23/11

Notes available from website What is a land ?

• Any photosynthetic eukaryote that can survive and sexually reproduce on • Defined by a true alternation of generations with multicellular diploid land and haploid phases, and the two phases remain physically • All land are embryophytes (= embryo bearing plants) connected. Diversity and evolution of major groups of land plants (haploid) stage

Sporophyte produces Gametophyte produces haploid sporangia which make gametes, which unite in the haploid archegonium of the gametophyte

Sporophyte (diploid) stage

Robin Allaby (http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/whri/research/archaeobotany/)

A brief history of time Notes available from website Overview Evidence of first land plants: 480-360 Mya

• cuticles & stomata • Origin of land plants • archegonium & sporopollenin walled spores • Evolutionary history of land plants • vascular systems – Major morphological innovations: alternation of generations cuticles and stomata vascular tissues heterospory seeds leaves flowers • Resultant phylogenetic tree of plants (417) • Some evolutionary trends convergence polyploidy (440)

genome expansion 1 cm bar 458

545 495 440 417 354 292 251 202 142 65 24 1.8 (495) Cambrian Ordovician Silurian Devonian Carboniferous Permian Triassic Jurassic Cretaceous Palaeogene Neogene Q Circa 415 Mya Cooksonia paranensis (Gerrienne et al 2006)

Invasion of land was really an invasion of the air What is a land plant? Vascular tissues: evolution of xylem and phloem Heterospory

• dessication and support are the principal problems • Any photosynthetic eukaryote that can survive and sexually reproduce on embryophytes land better adapted for dry unisexual • adaptation to dessication requires : better adapted for moist a cuticle (and consequentially stomata) environments than , environments than bryophytes manifest as spores and seeds (ultimately) tracheophytes heterosporous vascular tissue (when plants are above a certain size) amplification of amplification of gametophyte one stage must amplification of 397 - 391 Mya sporophyte (Eifelian) poikilohydric reduce the other homoihydric

non vascular vascular phyletic trend for taller , bisexual gametophytes, (bryophytes) (tracheophytes) homosporous mosses, ferns, lycopods, liverworts and horsetails, and plants that release spores = pteridophytes (fern like - includes lycopods (L), Horsetails (H) hornworts See Proctor 2007 seed plants and Ferns (F))

1 2 2/23/11 2/23/11

The late arrival of leaves: 360 Mya!! (end of Heterospory Heterospory Pollen tubes by early Carboniferous Devonian)

homospory • Seems odd - reduces the chances of fertilization by separating egg and sperm. Cannot be good in a harsh environment, this is a cost. • Once separated, makes sense to increase energy investment in the “” gametophyte which must support the sporophyte, and maximize chances of successful fertilization by making male numerous, (and consequently small). • Gives rise to out-crossing. Perhaps this is the advantage (?). heterospory • That it is an advantage is proven by the convergence on the habit - possibly as many as 11 times! (Bateman & DiMichele 1994).

Leaf evolution associated with falling CO2 levels (first plants evolved in a CO2 rich atmosphere)

(Rothwell 1972) (Beerling 2005)

The logical progression of heterospory Seed habit - the next step after heterospory A snapshot of the Carboniferous Angiosperms appear 144 Mya (early Cretaceous)

• retain in megasporangium

e.g. Barinophyton citrulliforme • reduce functional to 1 Lycopod trees Equisetoid trees • retain megagametophyte (elimating requirement for external water (Lepidodendron) for fertilization) (Calamites) • modification of megasporangia to receive • modification of microspores to enable them to deliver sperm cells to e.g. Chaleuria cirrosa eggs (ie pollen tube) • integument develops around megasporangia (later) e.g. Cystosporites devonicus

e.g. Archaeopteris & Selaginella increasing investment in all seed plants = spermatophytes megaspore causes first seed plants = gymnosperms (naked seeds) reduction in megaspore number

Asteropollis sp. Pollen (Laurales) (Friis et al 2005)

Explosion in Angiosperm speciesGnetales is Oldest seed plant 385 Mya (Mid Devonian) Basic Gymnosperm architecture Evolution of Angiosperms gymnosperm group closest to flowering plants salpinx • Angio = container - megasporangium (and integuments) enclosed in carpel. Angiosperms 220 000 species integument + • Flower structure (a determinate shoot built from leaves). megasporangium Bryophytes 22 400 species • 2 integuments not one (as in gymnosperms). uncovered Pteridophytes 9 000 species • Double fertilization (resulting in triploid endosperm). megasporangium Gymnosperms 750 species • Xylem structure (vessel members and sieve tubes). • Other features to such as endopolyploidy ability (weed technology!), vegetative reproductive ability (weed technology!). Fabaceae alone have 14000 species • Very versatile - numerous floral strategies possible - a single Also only land plant group to reinvade mutation can result in sexual isolation and new species formation. the sea (Zostera sp.) • Introduction of animal based pollination strategies. Integument does not fully enclose ovule

Runcaria heinzelinii (Gerrienne et al 2004)

3 4 2/23/11 2/23/11

The diversification of angiosperms: Darwin’s Oldest flower fossils circa 125 Mya. Evolutionary Trends: convergence (on tree habit) Evolutionary Trends: convergence (on cactus habit) abominable mystery

• The rapid appearance of so many species of angiosperm was a problem for Darwin’s theory • In his version of events, evolution proceeds gradually, selecting minute changes • Saltation was an opposing view point – gives more emphasis to mutation (internally driven) than Natural Selection (externally driven) • Darwin discovered the reason, and founded ‘pollination biology’

Water lily (Nymphaeales) (Friis et al 2001)

Angiosperms diversified because of floral Floral evolution – protection to attraction Evolutionary trends: polyploidy Evolutionary trends: genome obesity morphology and pollinator co-evolution

Bisexual flowers Nectar reward, bees, predominate birds, moths, bats

wind pollination

First pollinators: Unisexual flowers beetles in small predominate inconspicuous flowers

Friis et al 2006 Blanc and Wolfe 2004 Leitch et al 2005

buttercups, poppies basal grapes cactus basal water lillies Docks, rhubarb & sorrels core witch hazel, stone crops Obesity in the Liliales Endangered species? mistletoe pepper (spice) basal complex: primitive dicots geraniums rosids magnolia bay laurel Oldest tricolpate Euphorbia, willow Fritillaria (Liliales) 127 000 Mb pollen 120 Mya wood sorrel peace lillies beans, peas, acacia Large cells, slow replication - good for Based on DNA roses, apples bulbs sequences such cucumber, melons &pumpkins as rbcL, matK, monocots Oaks, birch, beech evening primrose nadh, atpB, 18S asparagus Cabbages, Arabidopsis Arabidopsis (Brassicales) rDNA cotton, lime trees Lillies, daffodils etc oranges, lemons 157 Mb yams 30 Mya CO2 levels crashed: dogwood asterids C4 metabolism heather, rhododendron, primrose palms Small cells, fast replication - evolved 62 times pineapples/air plants good for weed habit independently!! Potato, tomoto, deadly nightshade 26 in monocots coffee Mint, basil, rosemary, thyme etc., olives and 36 in eudicots reeds and rushes holly Why is there an over-representation of large genomes in the plant Red List? grasses Angiosperm Tricolpate carrots, parsley. fennel ginger, bird of paradise plants Phylogeny basal Angiosperms honeysuckle, elder daisy, asters, thistles, bellflowers Vinogradov 2003, but read also Cavalier-Smith 2005

5 6 2/23/11

Suggested reading Crane PR, Friis EM, Pedersen KR (1995) The origin and early diversification of angiosperms. Nature 374: 27-33. Friis EM, Pederson KR, Crane PR (2005) When the earth started blooming: insights from the fossil record. Current Opinion in Plant Biology 8:5-12. Judd WS, Campbell CS, Kellogg EA, Stevens PF (1999). Plant Systematics: A Phylogenetic Approach. Sinauer Associates, Sunderland, Massachusetts. Kenrick P and Crane PR (1997) The origin and early evolution of plants Cavalier-Smith T (2004) Only six kingdoms of life. Proceedings of the on land. Nature 389:33-39. Royal Society of London Series B. 271:1251-1262. Niklas K (1997) The evolutionary biology of plants. University of Friis EM, Pederson KR, Crane PR (2001) Fossil evidence of water Chicago Press, Chicago. lilies (Nymphaeales) in the early cretaceous. Nature 410: 357-360. Friis et al 2006 Cretaceous angiosperm flowers: Innovation and evolution in plant reproduction. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 232 (2006) 251–293 Other source material Friis et al 2010 Diversity in obscurity: fossil flowers and the early Bateman RM and DiMichele WA (1994) Heterospory: The most history of angiosperms. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B 2010 365, 369-382 iterative key innovation in the evolutionary history of the plant Gerrienne P, Meyer-Berthaud B, Fairon-Demaret M, Streel M, kingdom. Biological Reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society Steemans P (2004) Runcaria, a Middle Devonian Seed Plant Precursor. 69:345-417. Science 306:856-858. Beerling DJ (2005. Leaf Evolution: Gases, Genes and Geochemistry. Gerrienne P et al. (2006) An exceptional specimen of the early land Annals of Botany 96:345-352. plant Cooksonia paranensis, and a hypothesis on the life cycle of the Blanc G, Wolfe KH (2004) Widespread paleopolyploidy in mode plant earliest eutracheophytes. Review of Palaeontology and Palynology species inferred from age distributions of duplicate genes. The Plant 142:123-130. Cell 16:1667-1678. Leitch IJ, Soltis DE, Soltis PS, Bennett MD (2005) Evolution of DNA Cavalier-Smith T (2005) Economy, sped and size matter: evolutionary amounts across land plants (Embryophyta). Annals of Botany forces driving nuclear genome miniaturization and expansion. Annals 95:207-217. of Botany 95:147-175. Proctor M (2007) Ferns, evolution, scale and intellectual impedimenta. New Phytologist 176:504-506. Rothwell GW (1972) Evidence of Pollen Tubes in Palaeozoic Pteridosperms. Science 175:772-774. Vinogradov AE (2003) Selfish DNA is maladaptive: evidence from the plant Red List. Trends in Genetics 19:609-614.

7