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Xiao L, Labandeira CC, Wu Y, Shih C, Ren D, Wang Y. Middle Jurassic insect mines on gymnosperms provide missing links to early mining evolution. New Phytol 2024; 242:2803-2816. [PMID: 38184785 DOI: 10.1111/nph.19517] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/23/2023] [Accepted: 12/14/2023] [Indexed: 01/08/2024]
Abstract
We investigated the mining mode of insect feeding, involving larval consumption of a plant's internal tissues, from the Middle Jurassic (165 million years ago) Daohugou locality of Northeastern China. Documentation of mining from the Jurassic Period is virtually unknown, and results from this time interval would address mining evolution during the temporal gap of mine-seed plant diversifications from the previous Late Triassic to the subsequent Early Cretaceous. Plant fossils were examined with standard microscopic procedures for herbivory and used the standard functional feeding group-damage-type system of categorizing damage. All fossil mines were photographed and databased. We examined 2014 plant specimens, of which 27 occurrences on 14 specimens resulted in eight, new, mine damage types (DTs) present on six genera of bennettitalean, ginkgoalean, and pinalean gymnosperms. Three conclusions emerge from this study. First, these mid-Mesozoic mines are morphologically conservative and track plant host anatomical structure rather than plant phylogeny. Second, likely insect fabricators of these mines were three basal lineages of polyphagan beetles, four basal lineages of monotrysian moths, and a basal lineage tenthredinoid sawflies. Third, the nutrition hypothesis, indicating that miners had greater access to nutritious, inner tissues of new plant lineages, best explains mine evolution during the mid-Mesozoic.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lifang Xiao
- Guangdong Key Laboratory of Animal Conservation and Resource Utilization, Guangdong Public Laboratory of Wild Animal Conservation and Utilization, Institute of Zoology, Guangdong Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, 510260, China
- College of Life Science and Academy for Multidisciplinary Studies, Capital Normal University, Beijing, 100048, China
- Department of Paleobiology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Tenth St. and Constitution Ave, Washington, DC, 20013, USA
| | - Conrad C Labandeira
- College of Life Science and Academy for Multidisciplinary Studies, Capital Normal University, Beijing, 100048, China
- Department of Paleobiology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Tenth St. and Constitution Ave, Washington, DC, 20013, USA
- Department of Entomology and BEES Program, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, 20742, USA
| | - Yuekun Wu
- College of Life Science and Academy for Multidisciplinary Studies, Capital Normal University, Beijing, 100048, China
| | - ChungKun Shih
- College of Life Science and Academy for Multidisciplinary Studies, Capital Normal University, Beijing, 100048, China
- Department of Paleobiology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Tenth St. and Constitution Ave, Washington, DC, 20013, USA
| | - Dong Ren
- College of Life Science and Academy for Multidisciplinary Studies, Capital Normal University, Beijing, 100048, China
| | - Yongjie Wang
- Guangdong Key Laboratory of Animal Conservation and Resource Utilization, Guangdong Public Laboratory of Wild Animal Conservation and Utilization, Institute of Zoology, Guangdong Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, 510260, China
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Coiro M, Allio R, Mazet N, Seyfullah LJ, Condamine FL. Reconciling fossils with phylogenies reveals the origin and macroevolutionary processes explaining the global cycad biodiversity. New Phytol 2023; 240:1616-1635. [PMID: 37302411 PMCID: PMC10953041 DOI: 10.1111/nph.19010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/25/2022] [Accepted: 05/01/2023] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
The determinants of biodiversity patterns can be understood using macroevolutionary analyses. The integration of fossils into phylogenies offers a deeper understanding of processes underlying biodiversity patterns in deep time. Cycadales are considered a relict of a once more diverse and globally distributed group but are restricted to low latitudes today. We still know little about their origin and geographic range evolution. Combining molecular data for extant species and leaf morphological data for extant and fossil species, we study the origin of cycad global biodiversity patterns through Bayesian total-evidence dating analyses. We assess the ancestral geographic origin and trace the historical biogeography of cycads with a time-stratified process-based model. Cycads originated in the Carboniferous on the Laurasian landmass and expanded in Gondwana in the Jurassic. Through now-vanished continental connections, Antarctica and Greenland were crucial biogeographic crossroads for cycad biogeography. Vicariance is an essential speciation mode in the deep and recent past. Their latitudinal span increased in the Jurassic and restrained toward subtropical latitudes in the Neogene in line with biogeographic inferences of high-latitude extirpations. We show the benefits of integrating fossils into phylogenies to estimate ancestral areas of origin and to study evolutionary processes explaining the global distribution of present-day relict groups.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mario Coiro
- Department of PalaeontologyUniversity of Vienna1090ViennaAustria
- Ronin Institute for Independent ScholarshipMontclairNJ07043USA
| | - Rémi Allio
- Centre de Biologie pour la Gestion des Populations, INRAE, CIRAD, IRD, Montpellier SupAgroUniversité de Montpellier34988MontpellierFrance
| | - Nathan Mazet
- CNRS, Institut des Sciences de l'Evolution de Montpellier, Université de MontpellierPlace Eugène Bataillon34095MontpellierFrance
| | | | - Fabien L. Condamine
- CNRS, Institut des Sciences de l'Evolution de Montpellier, Université de MontpellierPlace Eugène Bataillon34095MontpellierFrance
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Imaichi R, Moritoki N, Solvang HK. Evolution of root apical meristem structures in vascular plants: plasmodesmatal networks. Am J Bot 2018; 105:1453-1468. [PMID: 30179250 DOI: 10.1002/ajb2.1153] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/03/2018] [Accepted: 06/18/2018] [Indexed: 06/08/2023]
Abstract
PREMISE OF THE STUDY The apical meristem generates indeterminate apical growth of the stem and root of vascular plants. Our previous examination showed that shoot apical meristems (SAMs) can be classified into two types based on plasmodesmatal networks (PNs), which are important elements in symplasmic signaling pathways within the apical meristem. Here, we examined the PNs of root apical meristems (RAMs) in comparison with those of SAMs. METHODS Root apical meristems of 18 families and 22 species of lycophytes and euphyllophytes were analyzed. Plasmodesmata (PD) in cell walls in median longitudinal sections of RAMs were enumerated using transmission electron micrographs, and the PD density per 1 μm2 of each cell wall was calculated. KEY RESULTS Root apical meristems with prominent apical cells of monilophytes (euphyllophytes) and Selaginellaceae (lycophytes) had high PD densities, while RAMs with plural initial cells of gymnosperms and angiosperms (euphyllophytes), and of Lycopodiaceae and Isoetaceae (lycophytes) had low PD densities. This correlation between structures of apical meristems and PD densities is identical to that in SAMs already described. CONCLUSIONS Irrespective of their diversified structures, the RAMs of vascular plants can be classified into two types with respect to PNs: the fern (monilophyte) type, which has a lineage-specific PN with only primary PD, and the seed-plant type, which has an interspecific PN with secondary PD in addition to primary PD. PNs may have played a key role in the evolution of apical meristems in vascular plants.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ryoko Imaichi
- Department of Chemical and Biological Sciences, Japan Women's University, 8-1, Mejirodai 2-chome, Tokyo, 112-8681, Japan
| | - Nobuko Moritoki
- Laboratory of Electron Microscopy, Japan Women's University, 8-1, Mejirodai 2-chome, Tokyo, 112-8681, Japan
| | - Hiroko Kato Solvang
- Marine Mammals Research Group, Institute of Marine Research, P.O. Box 1870 Nordnes, N-5817, Bergen, Norway
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Tomlinson PB, Ricciardi A, Huggett BA. Cracking the omega code: hydraulic architecture of the cycad leaf axis. Ann Bot 2018; 121:483-488. [PMID: 29293875 PMCID: PMC5838846 DOI: 10.1093/aob/mcx181] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/03/2017] [Accepted: 11/13/2017] [Indexed: 05/28/2023]
Abstract
Background and Aims The leaf axis of members of the order Cycadales ('cycads') has long been recognized by its configuration of independent vascular bundles that, in transverse section, resemble the Greek letter omega (hence the 'omega pattern'). This provides a useful diagnostic character for the order, especially when applied to paleobotany. The function of this pattern has never been elucidated. Here we provide a three-dimensional analysis and explain the pattern in terms of the hydraulic architecture of the pinnately compound cycad leaf. Methods The genus Cycas was used as a simple model, because each leaflet is supplied by a single vascular bundle. Sequential sectioning was conducted throughout the leaf axis and photographed with a digital camera. Photographs were registered and converted to a cinematic format, which provided an objective method of analysis. Key Results The omega pattern in the petiole can be sub-divided into three vascular components, an abaxial 'circle', a central 'column' and two adaxial 'wings', the last being the only direct source of vascular supply to the leaflets. Each leaflet is supplied by a vascular bundle that has divided or migrated directly from the closest wing bundle. There is neither multiplication nor anastomoses of vascular bundles in the other two components. Thus, as one proceeds from base to apex along the leaf axis, the number of vascular bundles in circle and column components is reduced distally by their uniform migration throughout all components. Consequently, the distal leaflets are irrigated by the more abaxial bundles, guaranteeing uniform water supply along the length of the axis. Conclusions The omega pattern exemplifies one of the many solutions plants have achieved in supplying distal appendages of an axis with a uniform water supply. Our method presents a model that can be applied to other genera of cycads with more complex vascular organization.
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Nel P, Bertrand S, Nel A. Diversification of insects since the Devonian: a new approach based on morphological disparity of mouthparts. Sci Rep 2018; 8:3516. [PMID: 29476087 PMCID: PMC5824790 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-018-21938-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/18/2017] [Accepted: 02/12/2018] [Indexed: 01/24/2023] Open
Abstract
The majority of the analyses of the evolutionary history of the megadiverse class Insecta are based on the documented taxonomic palaeobiodiversity. A different approach, poorly investigated, is to focus on morphological disparity, linked to changes in the organisms' functioning. Here we establish a hierarchy of the great geological epochs based on a new method using Wagner parsimony and a 'presence/absence of a morphological type of mouthpart of Hexapoda' dataset. We showed the absence of major rupture in the evolution of the mouthparts, but six epochs during which numerous innovations and few extinctions happened, i.e., Late Carboniferous, Middle and Late Triassic, 'Callovian-Oxfordian', 'Early' Cretaceous, and 'Albian-Cenomanian'. The three crises Permian-Triassic, Triassic-Jurassic, and Cretaceous-Cenozoic had no strong, visible impact on mouthparts types. We particularly emphasize the origination of mouthparts linked to nectarivory during the Cretaceous Terrestrial Revolution. We also underline the origination of mouthparts linked to phytophagy during the Middle and the Late Triassic, correlated to the diversification of the gymnosperms, especially in relation to the complex 'flowers' producing nectar of the Bennettitales and Gnetales.
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Affiliation(s)
- Patricia Nel
- Institut de Systématique, Évolution, Biodiversité, ISYEB-UMR 7205-CNRS, MNHN, UPMC, EPHE, Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle, Sorbonne Universités, 57 rue Cuvier, CP 50, Entomologie, F-75005, Paris, France.
- AgroParisTech, 75005, Paris, France.
| | | | - André Nel
- Institut de Systématique, Évolution, Biodiversité, ISYEB-UMR 7205-CNRS, MNHN, UPMC, EPHE, Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle, Sorbonne Universités, 57 rue Cuvier, CP 50, Entomologie, F-75005, Paris, France
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Rosell JA, Olson ME, Anfodillo T, Martínez-Méndez N. Exploring the bark thickness-stem diameter relationship: clues from lianas, successive cambia, monocots and gymnosperms. New Phytol 2017. [PMID: 28631326 DOI: 10.1111/nph.14628] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/09/2023]
Abstract
Bark thickness is ecologically crucial, affecting functions from fire protection to photosynthesis. Bark thickness scales predictably with stem diameter, but there is little consensus on whether this scaling is a passive consequence of growth or an important adaptive phenomenon requiring explanation. With a comparative study across 913 species, we test the expectation that, if bark thickness-stem diameter scaling is adaptive, it should be possible to find ecological situations in which scaling is predictably altered, in this case between species with different types and deployments of phloem. 'Dicots' with successive cambia and monocots, which have phloem-free bark, had predictably thinner inner (mostly living) bark than plants with single cambia. Lianas, which supply large leaf areas with limited stem area, had much thicker inner bark than self-supporting plants. Gymnosperms had thicker outer bark than angiosperms. Inner bark probably scales with plant metabolic demands, for example with leaf area. Outer bark scales with stem diameter less predictably, probably reflecting diverse adaptive factors; for example, it tends to be thicker in fire-prone species and very thin when bark photosynthesis is favored. Predictable bark thickness-stem diameter scaling across plants with different photosynthate translocation demands and modes strongly supports the idea that this relationship is functionally important and adaptively significant.
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Affiliation(s)
- Julieta A Rosell
- Laboratorio Nacional de Ciencias de la Sostenibilidad, Instituto de Ecología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Apartado Postal 70-275, Ciudad de México, 04510, Mexico
| | - Mark E Olson
- Instituto de Biología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Tercer Circuito de Ciudad Universitaria sn, Ciudad de México, 04510, Mexico
| | - Tommaso Anfodillo
- Dip. TeSAF, Facoltà di Agraria, Università di Padova, v.le dell'Università 16, Legnaro, I-35202, Italy
| | - Norberto Martínez-Méndez
- Laboratorio de Bioconservación y Manejo, Departamento de Zoología, Escuela Nacional de Ciencias Biológicas del Instituto Politécnico Nacional, Unidad Profesional Lázaro Cárdenas, Ciudad de México, 11340, Mexico
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McElwain JC, Yiotis C, Lawson T. Using modern plant trait relationships between observed and theoretical maximum stomatal conductance and vein density to examine patterns of plant macroevolution. New Phytol 2016; 209:94-103. [PMID: 26230251 PMCID: PMC5014202 DOI: 10.1111/nph.13579] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/26/2015] [Accepted: 06/27/2015] [Indexed: 05/04/2023]
Abstract
Understanding the drivers of geological-scale patterns in plant macroevolution is limited by a hesitancy to use measurable traits of fossils to infer palaeoecophysiological function. Here, scaling relationships between morphological traits including maximum theoretical stomatal conductance (gmax ) and leaf vein density (Dv ) and physiological measurements including operational stomatal conductance (gop ), saturated (Asat ) and maximum (Amax ) assimilation rates were investigated for 18 extant taxa in order to improve understanding of angiosperm diversification in the Cretaceous. Our study demonstrated significant relationships between gop , gmax and Dv that together can be used to estimate gas exchange and the photosynthetic capacities of fossils. We showed that acquisition of high gmax in angiosperms conferred a competitive advantage over gymnosperms by increasing the dynamic range (plasticity) of their gas exchange and expanding their ecophysiological niche space. We suggest that species with a high gmax (> 1400 mmol m(-2) s(-1) ) would have been capable of maintaining a high Amax as the atmospheric CO2 declined through the Cretaceous, whereas gymnosperms with a low gmax would experience severe photosynthetic penalty. Expansion of the ecophysiological niche space in angiosperms, afforded by coordinated evolution of high gmax , Dv and increased plasticity in gop , adds further functional insights into the mechanisms driving angiosperm speciation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jennifer C. McElwain
- Earth InstituteO'Brien Centre for ScienceUniversity College DublinBelfieldIreland
- School of Biology and Environmental ScienceUniversity College DublinBelfieldIreland
| | - Charilaos Yiotis
- Earth InstituteO'Brien Centre for ScienceUniversity College DublinBelfieldIreland
- School of Biology and Environmental ScienceUniversity College DublinBelfieldIreland
| | - Tracy Lawson
- School of Biological ScienceUniversity of EssexColchesterCO4 3SQUK
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Zhang YJ, Cao KF, Sack L, Li N, Wei XM, Goldstein G. Extending the generality of leaf economic design principles in the cycads, an ancient lineage. New Phytol 2015; 206:817-29. [PMID: 25622799 DOI: 10.1111/nph.13274] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/13/2014] [Accepted: 12/08/2014] [Indexed: 05/13/2023]
Abstract
Cycads are the most ancient lineage of living seed plants, but the design of their leaves has received little study. We tested whether cycad leaves are governed by the same fundamental design principles previously established for ferns, conifers and angiosperms, and characterized the uniqueness of this relict lineage in foliar trait relationships. Leaf structure, photosynthesis, hydraulics and nutrient composition were studied in 33 cycad species from nine genera and three families growing in two botanical gardens. Cycads varied greatly in leaf structure and physiology. Similarly to other lineages, light-saturated photosynthetic rate per mass (Am ) was related negatively to leaf mass per area and positively to foliar concentrations of chlorophyll, nitrogen (N), phosphorus and iron, but unlike angiosperms, leaf photosynthetic rate was not associated with leaf hydraulic conductance. Cycads had lower photosynthetic N use efficiency and higher photosynthetic performance relative to hydraulic capacity compared with other lineages. These findings extend the relationships shown for foliar traits in angiosperms to the cycads. This functional convergence supports the modern synthetic understanding of leaf design, with common constraints operating across lineages, even as they highlight exceptional aspects of the biology of this key relict lineage.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yong-Jiang Zhang
- Key Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Mengla, Yunnan, 666303, China; Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, 02138, USA
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Scutt CP, Vandenbussche M. Current trends and future directions in flower development research. Ann Bot 2014; 114:1399-406. [PMID: 25335868 PMCID: PMC4204790 DOI: 10.1093/aob/mcu224] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/18/2014] [Accepted: 09/24/2014] [Indexed: 05/05/2023]
Abstract
Flowers, the reproductive structures of the approximately 400 000 extant species of flowering plants, exist in a tremendous range of forms and sizes, mainly due to developmental differences involving the number, arrangement, size and form of the floral organs of which they consist. However, this tremendous diversity is underpinned by a surprisingly robust basic floral structure in which a central group of carpels forms on an axis of determinate growth, almost invariably surrounded by two successive zones containing stamens and perianth organs, respectively. Over the last 25 years, remarkable progress has been achieved in describing the molecular mechanisms that control almost all aspects of flower development, from the phase change that initiates flowering to the final production of fruits and seeds. However, this work has been performed almost exclusively in a small number of eudicot model species, chief among which is Arabidopsis thaliana. Studies of flower development must now be extended to a much wider phylogenetic range of flowering plants and, indeed, to their closest living relatives, the gymnosperms. Studies of further, more wide-ranging models should provide insights that, for various reasons, cannot be obtained by studying the major existing models alone. The use of further models should also help to explain how the first flowering plants evolved from an unknown, although presumably gymnosperm-like ancestor, and rapidly diversified to become the largest major plant group and to dominate the terrestrial flora. The benefits for society of a thorough understanding of flower development are self-evident, as human life depends to a large extent on flowering plants and on the fruits and seeds they produce. In this preface to the Special Issue, we introduce eleven articles on flower development, representing work in both established and further models, including gymnosperms. We also present some of our own views on current trends and future directions of the flower development field.
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Affiliation(s)
- Charlie P Scutt
- Laboratoire de Reproduction et Développement des Plantes, (Unité mixte de recherche 5667: CNRS-INRA-Université de Lyon), Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon, 46 allée d'Italie, 69364 Lyon Cedex 07, France
| | - Michiel Vandenbussche
- Laboratoire de Reproduction et Développement des Plantes, (Unité mixte de recherche 5667: CNRS-INRA-Université de Lyon), Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon, 46 allée d'Italie, 69364 Lyon Cedex 07, France
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Abstract
The main role of leaf venation is to supply water across the photosynthetic surface to keep stomata open and allow access to atmospheric CO2 despite evaporative demand. The optimal uniform delivery of water occurs when the distance between veins equals the depth of vein placement within the leaf away from the evaporative surface. As presented here, only angiosperms maintain this anatomical optimum across all leaf thicknesses and different habitats, including sheltered environments where this optimization need not be required. Intriguingly, basal angiosperm lineages tend to be underinvested hydraulically; uniformly high optimization is derived independently in the magnoliids, monocots and core eudicots. Gymnosperms and ferns, including available fossils, are limited by their inability to produce high vein densities. The common association of ferns with shaded humid environments may, in part, be a direct evolutionary consequence of their inability to produce hydraulically optimized leaves. Some gymnosperms do approach optimal vein placement, but only by virtue of their ability to produce thick leaves most appropriate in environments requiring water conservation. Thus, this simple anatomical metric presents an important perspective on the evolution and phylogenetic distribution of plant ecologies and further evidence that the vegetative biology of flowering plants-not just their reproductive biology-is unique.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maciej A Zwieniecki
- Plant Sciences Department, UC Davis, , Davis, CA, USA, Department of Geological and Environmental Sciences, Stanford University, , Stanford, CA, USA
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Wang M, Béthoux O, Bradler S, Jacques FMB, Cui Y, Ren D. Under cover at pre-angiosperm times: a cloaked phasmatodean insect from the Early Cretaceous Jehol biota. PLoS One 2014; 9:e91290. [PMID: 24646906 PMCID: PMC3960115 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0091290] [Citation(s) in RCA: 32] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/08/2013] [Accepted: 01/13/2014] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Fossil species that can be conclusively identified as stem-relatives of stick- and leaf-insects (Phasmatodea) are extremely rare, especially for the Mesozoic era. This dearth in the paleontological record makes assessments on the origin and age of the group problematic and impedes investigations of evolutionary key aspects, such as wing development, sexual size dimorphism and plant mimicry. Methodology/Principal Findings A new fossil insect species, Cretophasmomima melanogramma Wang, Béthoux and Ren sp. nov., is described on the basis of one female and two male specimens recovered from the Yixian Formation (Early Cretaceous, ca. 126±4 mya; Inner Mongolia, NE China; known as ‘Jehol biota’). The occurrence of a female abdominal operculum and of a characteristic ‘shoulder pad’ in the forewing allows for the interpretation of a true stem-Phasmatodea. In contrast to the situation in extant forms, sexual size dimorphism is only weakly female-biased in this species. The peculiar wing coloration, viz. dark longitudinal veins, suggests that the leaf-shaped plant organ from the contemporaneous ‘gymnosperm’ Membranifolia admirabilis was used as model for crypsis. Conclusions/Significance As early as in the Early Cretaceous, some stem-Phasmatodea achieved effective leaf mimicry, although additional refinements characteristic of recent forms, such as curved fore femora, were still lacking. The diversification of small-sized arboreal insectivore birds and mammals might have triggered the acquisition of such primary defenses.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maomin Wang
- Key Laboratory of Insect Evolution and Environmental Changes, Capital Normal University, Beijing, P. R. China
| | - Olivier Béthoux
- Sorbonne Universités - CR2P - MNHN, CNRS, UPMC-Paris6, Paris, France
| | - Sven Bradler
- Johann-Friedrich-Blumenbach-Institute of Zoology and Anthropology, Georg-August-University Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Frédéric M. B. Jacques
- Laboratory of Palaeoecology, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, CAS, Menglun, Mengla, Xishuangbanna, Yunnan, P. R. China
| | - Yingying Cui
- Key Laboratory of Insect Evolution and Environmental Changes, Capital Normal University, Beijing, P. R. China
- Institute of Geology, Department of Palaeontology, Technical University Bergakademie Freiberg, Freiberg, Germany
| | - Dong Ren
- Key Laboratory of Insect Evolution and Environmental Changes, Capital Normal University, Beijing, P. R. China
- * E-mail:
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Nishida H, Pigg KB, Kudo K, Rigby JF. New evidence of the reproductive organs of Glossopteris based on permineralized fossils from Queensland, Australia. II: pollen-bearing organ Ediea gen. nov. J Plant Res 2014; 127:233-240. [PMID: 24165836 DOI: 10.1007/s10265-013-0601-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/10/2013] [Accepted: 09/29/2013] [Indexed: 06/02/2023]
Abstract
Ediea homevalensis H. Nishida, Kudo, Pigg & Rigby gen. et sp. nov. is proposed for permineralized pollen-bearing structures from the Late Permian Homevale Station locality of the Bowen Basin, Queensland, Australia. The taxon represents unisexual fertile shoots bearing helically arranged leaves on a central axis. The more apical leaves are fertile microsporophylls bearing a pair of multi-branched stalks on their adaxial surfaces that each supports a cluster of terminally borne pollen sacs. Proximal to the fertile leaves there are several rows of sterile scale-like leaves. The pollen sacs (microsporangia) have thickened and dark, striate walls that are typical of the Arberiella type found in most pollen organs presumed to be of glossopterid affinity. An examination of pollen organs at several developmental stages, including those containing in situ pollen of the Protohaploxypinus type, provides the basis for a detailed analysis of these types of structures, which bear similarities to both compression/impression Eretmonia-type glossopterid microsporangiate organs and permineralized Eretmonia macloughlinii from Antarctica. These fossils demonstrate that at least some Late Permian pollen organs were simple microsporophyll-bearing shoot systems and not borne directly on Glossopteris leaves.
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Affiliation(s)
- Harufumi Nishida
- Faculty of Science and Engineering, Department of Biological Sciences, Chuo University, 1-13-27 Kasuga, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, 112-8551, Japan,
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Roemer RB, Booth D, Bhavsar AA, Walter GH, Terry LI. Mathematical model of cycad cones' thermogenic temperature responses: inverse calorimetry to estimate metabolic heating rates. J Theor Biol 2012; 315:87-96. [PMID: 22995822 DOI: 10.1016/j.jtbi.2012.09.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/19/2011] [Revised: 08/03/2012] [Accepted: 09/06/2012] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
A mathematical model based on conservation of energy has been developed and used to simulate the temperature responses of cones of the Australian cycads Macrozamia lucida and Macrozamia. macleayi during their daily thermogenic cycle. These cones generate diel midday thermogenic temperature increases as large as 12 °C above ambient during their approximately two week pollination period. The cone temperature response model is shown to accurately predict the cones' temperatures over multiple days as based on simulations of experimental results from 28 thermogenic events from 3 different cones, each simulated for either 9 or 10 sequential days. The verified model is then used as the foundation of a new, parameter estimation based technique (termed inverse calorimetry) that estimates the cones' daily metabolic heating rates from temperature measurements alone. The inverse calorimetry technique's predictions of the major features of the cones' thermogenic metabolism compare favorably with the estimates from conventional respirometry (indirect calorimetry). Because the new technique uses only temperature measurements, and does not require measurements of oxygen consumption, it provides a simple, inexpensive and portable complement to conventional respirometry for estimating metabolic heating rates. It thus provides an additional tool to facilitate field and laboratory investigations of the bio-physics of thermogenic plants.
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Affiliation(s)
- R B Roemer
- University of Utah, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Merrill Engineering Building, Salt Lake City, UT 84112, USA.
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14
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Affiliation(s)
- N S Nagalingum
- Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University, 22 Divinity Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
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15
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Abstract
Despite more than 130 years of research, phloem loading is far from being understood in gymnosperms. In part this is due to the special architecture of their leaves. They differ from angiosperm leaves among others by having a transfusion tissue between bundle sheath and the axial vascular elements. This article reviews the somewhat inaccessible and/or neglected literature and identifies the key points for pre-phloem transport and loading of photoassimilates. The pre-phloem pathway of assimilates is structurally characterized by a high number of plasmodesmata between all cell types starting in the mesophyll and continuing via bundle sheath, transfusion parenchyma, Strasburger cells up to the sieve elements. Occurrence of median cavities and branching indicates that primary plasmodesmata get secondarily modified and multiplied during expansion growth. Only functional tests can elucidate whether this symplasmic pathway is indeed continuous for assimilates, and if phloem loading in gymnosperms is comparable with the symplasmic loading mode in many angiosperm trees. In contrast to angiosperms, the bundle sheath has properties of an endodermis and is equipped with Casparian strips or other wall modifications that form a domain border for any apoplasmic transport. It constitutes a key point of control for nutrient transport, where the opposing flow of mineral nutrients and photoassimilates has to be accommodated in each single cell, bringing to mind the principle of a revolving door. The review lists a number of experiments needed to elucidate the mode of phloem loading in gymnosperms.
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Affiliation(s)
- Johannes Liesche
- Department of Plant Biology and Biotechnology, University of Copenhagen, Thorvaldsensvej 40, DK-1871 Frederiksberg C, Denmark
| | - Helle Juel Martens
- Department of Plant Biology and Biotechnology, University of Copenhagen, Thorvaldsensvej 40, DK-1871 Frederiksberg C, Denmark
| | - Alexander Schulz
- Department of Plant Biology and Biotechnology, University of Copenhagen, Thorvaldsensvej 40, DK-1871 Frederiksberg C, Denmark
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16
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Ren D, Labandeira CC, Santiago-Blay JA, Rasnitsyn A, Shih C, Bashkuev A, Logan MAV, Hotton CL, Dilcher D. A probable pollination mode before angiosperms: Eurasian, long-proboscid scorpionflies. Science 2009; 326:840-7. [PMID: 19892981 PMCID: PMC2944650 DOI: 10.1126/science.1178338] [Citation(s) in RCA: 83] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
Abstract
The head and mouthpart structures of 11 species of Eurasian scorpionflies represent three extinct and closely related families during a 62-million-year interval from the late Middle Jurassic to the late Early Cretaceous. These taxa had elongate, siphonate (tubular) proboscides and fed on ovular secretions of extinct gymnosperms. Five potential ovulate host-plant taxa co-occur with these insects: a seed fern, conifer, ginkgoopsid, pentoxylalean, and gnetalean. The presence of scorpionfly taxa suggests that siphonate proboscides fed on gymnosperm pollination drops and likely engaged in pollination mutualisms with gymnosperms during the mid-Mesozoic, long before the similar and independent coevolution of nectar-feeding flies, moths, and beetles on angiosperms. All three scorpionfly families became extinct during the later Early Cretaceous, coincident with global gymnosperm-to-angiosperm turnover.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dong Ren
- College of Life Sciences, Capital Normal University, Beijing 100048, China
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17
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Nepi M, von Aderkas P, Wagner R, Mugnaini S, Coulter A, Pacini E. Nectar and pollination drops: how different are they? Ann Bot 2009; 104:205-19. [PMID: 19477895 PMCID: PMC2710891 DOI: 10.1093/aob/mcp124] [Citation(s) in RCA: 37] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/09/2009] [Revised: 03/05/2009] [Accepted: 04/21/2009] [Indexed: 05/18/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Pollination drops and nectars (floral nectars) are secretions related to plant reproduction. The pollination drop is the landing site for the majority of gymnosperm pollen, whereas nectar of angiosperm flowers represents a common nutritional resource for a large variety of pollinators. Extrafloral nectars also are known from all vascular plants, although among the gymnosperms they are restricted to the Gnetales. Extrafloral nectars are not generally involved in reproduction but serve as 'reward' for ants defending plants against herbivores (indirect defence). SCOPE Although very different in their task, nectars and pollination drops share some features, e.g. basic chemical composition and eventual consumption by animals. This has led some authors to call these secretions collectively nectar. Modern techniques that permit chemical analysis and protein characterization have very recently added important information about these sugary secretions that appear to be much more than a 'reward' for pollinating (floral nectar) and defending animals (extrafloral nectar) or a landing site for pollen (pollination drop). CONCLUSIONS Nectar and pollination drops contain sugars as the main components, but the total concentration and the relative proportions are different. They also contain amino acids, of which proline is frequently the most abundant. Proteomic studies have revealed the presence of common functional classes of proteins such as invertases and defence-related proteins in nectar (floral and extrafloral) and pollination drops. Invertases allow for dynamic rearrangement of sugar composition following secretion. Defence-related proteins provide protection from invasion by fungi and bacteria. Currently, only few species have been studied in any depth. The chemical composition of the pollination drop must be investigated in a larger number of species if eventual phylogenetic relationships are to be revealed. Much more information can be provided from further proteomic studies of both nectar and pollination drop that will contribute to the study of plant reproduction and evolution.
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Affiliation(s)
- Massimo Nepi
- Department of Environmental Sciences G. Sarfatti, University of Siena, Via Mattioli 4, Siena, Italy.
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18
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Guo D, Xia M, Wei X, Chang W, Liu Y, Wang Z. Anatomical traits associated with absorption and mycorrhizal colonization are linked to root branch order in twenty-three Chinese temperate tree species. New Phytol 2008; 180:673-683. [PMID: 18657210 DOI: 10.1111/j.1469-8137.2008.02573.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 240] [Impact Index Per Article: 15.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/20/2023]
Abstract
* Different portions of tree root systems play distinct functional roles, yet precisely how to distinguish roots of different functions within the branching fine-root system is unclear. * Here, anatomy and mycorrhizal colonization was examined by branch order in 23 Chinese temperate tree species of both angiosperms and gymnosperms forming ectomycorrhizal and arbuscular-mycorrhizal associations. * Different branch orders showed marked differences in anatomy. First-order roots exhibited primary development with an intact cortex, a high mycorrhizal colonization rate and a low stele proportion, thus serving absorptive functions. Second and third orders had both primary and secondary development. Fourth and higher orders showed mostly secondary development with no cortex or mycorrhizal colonization, and thus have limited role in absorption. Based on anatomical traits, it was estimated that c. 75% of the fine-root length was absorptive, and 68% was mycorrhizal, averaged across species. * These results showed that: order predicted differences in root anatomy in a relatively consistent manner across species; anatomical traits associated with absorption and mycorrhizal colonization occurred mainly in the first three orders; the single diameter class approach may have overestimated absorptive root length by 25% in temperate forests.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dali Guo
- Department of Ecology, College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
- Shenzhen Graduate School, Peking University, Shenzhen 518055, China
| | - Mengxue Xia
- Department of Ecology, College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
| | - Xing Wei
- School of Forestry, Northeast Forestry University, Harbin 150040, China
| | - Wenjing Chang
- Shenzhen Graduate School, Peking University, Shenzhen 518055, China
| | - Ying Liu
- School of Forestry, Northeast Forestry University, Harbin 150040, China
| | - Zhengquan Wang
- School of Forestry, Northeast Forestry University, Harbin 150040, China
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Abstract
Improved phylogenies and the accumulation of broad comparative data sets have opened the way for phylogenetic analyses to trace trait evolution in major groups of organisms. We arrayed seed mass data for 12,987 species on the seed plant phylogeny and show the history of seed size from the emergence of the angiosperms through to the present day. The largest single contributor to the present-day spread of seed mass was the divergence between angiosperms and gymnosperms, whereas the widest divergence was between Celastraceae and Parnassiaceae. Wide divergences in seed size were more often associated with divergences in growth form than with divergences in dispersal syndrome or latitude. Cross-species studies and evolutionary theory are consistent with this evidence that growth form and seed size evolve in a coordinated manner.
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Affiliation(s)
- Angela T Moles
- National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis, 735 State Street, Santa Barbara, CA 93101-5304, USA.
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20
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Ryser U, Schorderet M, Guyot R, Keller B. A new structural element containing glycine-rich proteins and rhamnogalacturonan I in the protoxylem of seed plants. J Cell Sci 2004; 117:1179-90. [PMID: 14996940 DOI: 10.1242/jcs.00966] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
The water pipes of elongating plant organs are the result of programmed cell death and are formed by the walls of dead and empty protoxylem elements. These protoxylem elements are passively elongated many times by the surrounding tissue before they are replaced and collapse. Well-known adaptations for this unique task include the characteristic secondary wall thickenings, forming rings and helices. A new, clearly distinct structural element containing glycine-rich proteins is now visualized for the first time, using confocal laser scanning microscopy in the mature protoxylem of elongating organs of seed plants. This structural element is arranged along the longitudinal axis of the protoxylem elements. It interconnects the secondary wall thickenings within and between protoxylem elements, as well as the protoxylem with other cell types such as xylem parenchyma cells and metaxylem elements. The structural element is stable against detergent extractions, proteinase, pectinase and cellulase hydrolysis, and is closely associated with rhamnogalacturonan-I, a pectic polysaccharide. The results clearly demonstrate that the cell wall of protoxylem cells is a highly dynamic and complex structure. The typical polysaccharide-rich primary wall of living and elongating plant cells is progressively modified and finally replaced by a protein-rich wall in the dead and passively stretched protoxylem elements. These glycine-rich walls originated early in the evolution of the seed plants as confirmed by the analysis of genomic information.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ulrich Ryser
- University of Fribourg, Biology Department, Plant Biology, Fribourg, Switzerland.
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21
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Abstract
We describe details of anatomically preserved fossil glossopterid ovules from the Late Permian of Queensland, Australia, that contain several pollen tubes at various stages of releasing flagellated sperm. Each sperm is approximately 12.7 microm long and 13.9 microm wide, with a conspicuous spiral structure comprised of a series of dots that resemble the position of basal bodies of flagella aligned along the multilayered structure (MLS). This configuration is similar to the helically arranged flagella in the sperm of cycads, Ginkgo, and many pteridophytes. However, the motile gametes of Glossopteris are considerably smaller than those of Ginkgo and cycads, and more similar in size, number of basal bodies, and number of gyres in their helix to pteridophyte forms. Glossopteris thus shares the intermediate stage of motile male gamete formation and apparently that of haustorial pollen tubes with cycads and Ginkgo.
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Affiliation(s)
- Harufumi Nishida
- Faculty of Science and Engineering, Chuo University, 1-13-27 Kasuga, Bunkyo-Ku, Tokyo 112-8551, Japan.
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22
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Abstract
A general allometric model has been derived to predict intraspecific and interspecific scaling relationships among seed plant leaf, stem, and root biomass. Analysis of a large compendium of standing organ biomass sampled across a broad sampling of taxa inhabiting diverse ecological habitats supports the relations predicted by the model and defines the boundary conditions for above- and below-ground biomass partitioning. These canonical biomass relations are insensitive to phyletic affiliation (conifers versus angiosperms) and variation in averaged local environmental conditions. The model thus identifies and defines the limits that have guided the diversification of seed plant biomass allocation strategies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Brian J Enquist
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 87519, USA.
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