The Evolutionary Biology of Plants

By Karl J. Niklas

Book Overview

Although they are among the most abundant of all living things and provide essential oxygen, food, and shelter to the animal kingdom, few books pay any attention to how and why plants evolved the wondrous diversity we see today. In this richly illustrated and clearly written book, Karl J. Niklas provides the first comprehensive synthesis of modern evolutionary biology as it relates to plants.

After presenting key evolutionary principles, Niklas recounts the saga of plant life from its origins to the radiation of the flowering plants. To investigate how living plants might have evolved, Niklas conducts a series of computer-generated "walks" on fitness "landscapes," arriving at hypothetical forms of plant life strikingly similar to those of today and the distant past. He concludes with an extended consideration of molecular biology and paleontology. An excellent overview for undergraduates, this book will also challenge graduate students and researchers.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0226580830
• ISBN13: 9780226580838
• Release Date: June 1997
• Publisher: University of Chicago Press
• Length: 470 Pages
• Weight: 1.82 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Beautifully Written

This book stands out from the rest for two reasons: 1) it is nicely written for the college learner yet 2) it offers an accurate, easy-to-follow chronology of plant evolution starting with the single cell through movement of plants to land, the Paleozoic forests to the present-day seed plant. This book is an enduring classic for researchers, instructors and students.

Extremely detailed treatment

There are many natural questions that arise when considering the evolution of plants: Why did seeds evolve? How did the three separate genomes evolve in plants? How and why did plants evolve from aquatic habitats to terrestrial ones? Why do leafy plants have the leaf arrangements that they do? What is the average time scale needed for the evolution of a new plant species? What are the largest plant species that have yet evolved? How common is horizontal gene transfer in plants? What evolutionary advantages are there in pollination? From the standpoint of molecular biology, why do plants have the particular morphology that they do, as contrasted with other forms that seem plausible with respect to physical laws but do not occur? How extensive is the plant fossil record? Can the evolution of plants, indeed of living organisms in general, be simulated on a computing machine? These questions, among many others, are addressed in this superbly written book, which despite being targeted towards readers with an advanced knowledge of botany can still be read by anyone curious about the subject matter. Unless the reader is an expert in evolutionary biology (which this reviewer is not), it would be difficult to assess the accuracy of the subject matter as compared to other works. The author does include however many references that can be consulted if readers find it necessary to gain more details on a particular topic. In addition to the quality of the writing, there are numerous diagrams and figures that illustrate the important principles. The inclusion of diagrams in any book on botany is of course a must, given the diversity of plant morphology. For readers with a background in modeling and simulation, the author includes a highly interesting discussion on how to simulate plant evolution by using computer-generated "adaptive walks" on "fitness landscapes". Simulations of course are not a replacement for sound and painstaking experimentation and scientific hypothesis building, but they can serve as a guide to understanding, at least in a general sense, of what is possible in biological evolution. In order to really appreciate the discussion on adaptive walks, the reader will need a fairly strong background in modeling and simulation, even though the discussion is purely descriptive, with no explicit mathematical formalism put down on paper. The book is dense, being packed full of interesting information, demands the reader frequently back up and take pause so that the information can be assimilated more effectively. But the author's writing style is concise enough to keep the book at a manageable size. The different views on evolution, most of these coming down to the time scales over which changes are occurring, find their place in the book. The Darwinian view, which of course is the predominant one in the scientific community, is referred to as 'phyletic gradualism' in this book, and encapsulates the view that evolution is essentially an adaptive

What a fantastic book - everything you always wanted to know

A friend of mine told me about this book and said I had to read it. I am not a science student, but I found the book in my school library and read it anyway. It's a great book and I'm sure glad my friend told me about it. Plants are truly interesting, perhaps more so than animals because plants are so different from everything we are taught about in high school biology. Niklas's book is also well written. He speaks directly to the reader, using simple words to describe really complicated biological issues. Everything I always wondered about is found in this book. I've recommended it to my friends. I think everybody ought to know about the 'green world' that surrounds us!

This is a fascinating and well written book ?? a must read.

I am a student of animal biology and this book was assigned by one of my professors as a textbook. I knew nothing about plants until I read this book, and I really dreaded the idea of having to learn about plants. Niklas's book opened my eyes to the wonder and fascination of plant biology as well as the wonders of plant evolution, which are very different from what most of us have been taught about animals. I've read this book from cover to cover, at least twice. And each time I've picked up something new and exciting to think about. All of my friends in the class agree with me - - this is a great book and people should pay attention to it.

This is a very well written and informative book

The author has written an up to date and thoughtful book about evolution using plants as examples of all major ideas. This book should be read by any one interested in evolution or plant biology. The text is easy to read, with a minimum of jargon, and the book is well illustrated. I was especially interested in how the author combined information for the study of living plants with the information from the fossil record. This is one of the best books I've read in a long time. I recommend it highly.