EvoDevo: Past and Future of Continuum and Process Plant Morphology

Abstract

Plants and animals are both important for studies in evolutionary developmental biology (EvoDevo). Plant morphology as a valuable discipline of EvoDevo is set for a paradigm shift. Process thinking and the continuum approach in plant morphology allow us to perceive and interpret growing plants as combinations of developmental processes rather than as assemblages of structural units (“organs”) such as roots, stems, leaves, and flowers. These dynamic philosophical perspectives were already favored by botanists and philosophers such as Agnes Arber (1879–1960) and Rolf Sattler (*1936). The acceptance of growing plants as dynamic continua inspires EvoDevo scientists such as developmental geneticists and evolutionary biologists to move towards a more holistic understanding of plants in time and space. This review will appeal to many young scientists in the plant development research fields. It covers a wide range of relevant publications from the past to present.

Living between land and water – structural and functional adaptations in vegetative organs of bladderworts

“…and Utricularia L. are among the most interesting herbaceous angiosperms because of their carnivorous nature, unique vegetative bodies, small genome sizes, and several more biological peculiarities (cf. Ibarra-Laclette et al 2013;Rutishauser 2020;Silva et al 2020a).…”

“…Although an endodermis with CS mainly occurs in roots, it is not uncommon in aerial shoots and leaves (Lersten 1997;Seago 2020) but more often established in subterranean or submersed stems (Dalla Vecchia et al 1999). In the "rootless" bladderworts, the conductive function of the endodermis has been seemingly transferred from roots into stolons that manifest dynamic developmental processes for roots, shoots, and leaves (Rutishauser 2016(Rutishauser , 2020Reut and Płachno 2020).…”

“…The more free water is abundant, the less protection and stability of organs is required, which is apparently reflected in a loss of the root cap in some Pinguicula species (cf. Rutishauser 2016Rutishauser , 2020, the palisade layer in leaves, and supporting tissues in subterranean/ submersed organs within the Lentibulariaceae.…”

Linking the evolution of development of stem vascular system in Nyctaginaceae and its correlation to habit and species diversification

“…Because evolution can be seen as the transformation of ontogenies, many authors have argued that plant morphology is better understood under more dynamic and process thinking than the typological view of classical morphologists (e.g., Wilhelm Troll, Donald Kaplan) [ 57 , 58 ]. One of the alternative worldviews known as continuum morphology has been built through the works of several botanists, such as Agnes Arber [ 59 ] and Rolf Sattler [ 3 , 60 , 61 ].…”

Spatio-Temporal Distribution of Cell Wall Components in the Placentas, Ovules and Female Gametophytes of Utricularia during Pollination

“…In recent years, Utricularia has been proposed as a model to study plant genome evolution e.g., [ 58 , 59 , 60 , 61 ], carnivory and plant development e.g., [ 62 , 63 , 64 , 65 , 66 , 67 , 68 , 69 ]. Here, we showed that Utricularia can also be a useful and attractive model to study the male–female dialogue in plants.…”