Origin of Seed Plants: An Aneurophyte/Seed‐fern Link Elaborated

Rothwell, Gar W.; Erwin, Diane M.

doi:10.1002/j.1537-2197.1987.tb08702.x

Cited by 19 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 17 publications

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“…We have associated them with other organs documenting the evolution of reproductive structures. In some groups, the leaves protected the megasporangia, generating analogous structures similar to today's seeds, such as in lycophytes and ferns (e.g., Rothwell & Erwin 1987, Meade et al 2021. In arthrophytes, their compound cones, sometimes formed by leaves and branches, mimicked seed functions, but it is the branches, the sporangiophores, that protected the megasporangia.…”

Section: Increasing Photosynthetic Surfacesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Paleobotany to understand evolution and biodiversity in Mexico

Cevallos-Ferriz¹,

Hernández-Damián²,

Beraldi-Campesi³

et al. 2022

Bot. Sci.

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Paleobotany bears an invaluable source of knowledge for understanding the history of the biodiversity that we protect and care for today. This discipline is recognized as a source of information on physical, ecological, and biological events and processes that occurred in the past and are maintained today, but whose occurrences must be interpreted necessarily, and sometimes with limitations, solely from the lithosphere. The importance of studying past life from Mexico and addressing fossil plant reconstruction is highlighted to understand modern biodiversity. Fossils in Mexico have been studied marginally but contain valuable information to understand the history of biodiversity, both in Mexico and globally. We examined the extent to which Mexican fossils can contribute to understanding the origin and development of biological processes through time, and how past plant biodiversity in Mexico compares with the extant one. We used two sources to address these questions: (i) ideas on biological processes as seen through the fossil record, and (ii) fossils known from Mexico. Examples are given of how fossils, morphology, anatomy, and numerical methods, as well as genetics and physiology, illuminate each other to generate solid botanical concepts. The abundant and widely distributed outcrops with fossil plants suggest that further studies on Mexican material will be influential for varied biological hypotheses related to the origin and history of biodiversity. Mexican fossil plants and their scarce sampled localities are open to further investigation that will complement hypotheses on the historic discussion of biological processes.

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Section: Increasing Photosynthetic Surfacesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Paleobotany to understand evolution and biodiversity in Mexico

Cevallos-Ferriz¹,

Hernández-Damián²,

Beraldi-Campesi³

et al. 2022

Bot. Sci.

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Buried deep beyond the veil of extinction: Euphyllophyte relationships at the base of the spermatophyte clade

Toledo

Bippus

Tomescu

2018

American J of Botany

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Our results support the groups defined by traditional taxonomy, resolve Stenokoleales nested among the lignophytes, and indicate that seed plants may share a closer ancestor with Stenokoleales than with aneurophytes. Additionally, our trees suggest a Givetian minimum age for the seed plant ancestor, a late Emsian minimum age for the Stenokoleales, and early Emsian minimum ages for lignophytes, the bilateral clade, and the aneurophyte ancestor.

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