A unique account of the structure, biology and evolution of tropical flowering plants.

In this volume, 24 flowering plant families comprising a total of 911 genera are treated. They represent the asterid order Lamiales except for Acanthaceae (including Avicenniaceae), which will be included in a later volume. Although most of the constituent families of the order have been recognized as being closely related long ago, the inclusion of the families Byblidaceae, Carlemanniaceae and Plocospermataceae is the result mainly of recent molecular systematic research. Keys for the identification of all genera are provided, and likely phylogenetic relationships are discussed extensively. To facilitate the recognition of relationships, families are cross-referenced where necessary. The wealth of information contained in this volume makes it an indispensable source for anybody in the fields of pure and applied plant sciences.

Seedlings are highly sensitive to their environment. After seeds, they typically suffer the highest mortality of any life history stage. This book provides a comprehensive exploration of the seedling stage of the plant life cycle. It considers the importance of seedlings in plant communities; environmental factors with special impact on seedlings; the morphological and physiological diversity of seedlings including mycorrhizae; the relationship of the seedling with other life stages; seedling evolution; and seedlings in human altered ecosystems, including deserts, tropical rainforests, and habitat restoration projects. The diversity of seedlings is portrayed by including specialised groups like orchids, bromeliads, and parasitic and carnivorous plants. Discussions of physiology, morphology, evolution and ecology are brought together to focus on how and why seedlings are successful. This important text sets the stage for future research and is valuable to graduate students and researchers in plant ecology, botany, agriculture and conservation.

The Flowering of Australia’s Rainforests provides a comprehensive introduction to the pollination ecology, evolution and conservation of Australian rainforest plants, with particular emphasis on subtropical rainforests and their associated pollinators. This significantly expanded second edition includes new information on the impact of climate change, fire, fragmentation and invasive species. Rainforests continue to be a focus of global conservation concern, not only from threats to biodiversity in general, but to pollinators specifically. Within Australia, this has been emphasised by recent cataclysmic fire impacts, ongoing extreme drought events, and the wider consideration of climate change. This second edition strengthens coverage of these issues beyond that of the first edition. The Flowering of Australia’s Rainforests makes timely contributions to our understanding of the nature and function of the world’s pollinator fauna, plant-reproduction dependencies, and the evolutionary pathway that has brought them to their current state and function. Illustrated with 150 colour plates of major species and rainforest formations, this reference work will be of value to ecologists and field naturalists, botanists, conservation biologists, ecosystem managers and community groups involved in habitat restoration.

Plant embryology, dealing with the regularities of initiation and the first stages of development of an organism, is now flourishing because of the overall progress being made in natural sciences. Such discoveries of the 20th century as production of plants from a single somatic cell, experimental haploidy, and parasexual hybridization were of general biological significance. The combined efforts of embryologists, geneticists and molecular biologists yielded the discovery of specific genes that control meiosis, egg cell development and early stages of embryogenesis. The tendency to synthesize data of embryology and genetics has become increasingly noticeable. It is connected with the fact that the majority of problems connected with morphogenesis, such as differentiation, specialization, the evaluation of features and the definition of the notionsgene and feature andgenotype and phenotype concern embryology and genetics (embryogenetics) in one way or another. Evolutionary embryology has given rise to a new approach to the study of problems of adaptation in plants. In connection with the problem of preserving biological diversity under conditions of ecological stress, special attention is paid to ecological embryology, revealing the critical periods in early ontogenesis and plasticity and tolerance of reproductive systems at the level of species and population. The study of variability of morphogenesis and phenotype in population (life cycle variations and the diversity of reproductive systems) is the most important point in the population embryology of plants.

Why do unrelated organisms sometimes appear almost identical in details of the anatomy, behavior, physiology, and ecology? Homoplasy assembles leaders in evolutionary biology to explore issues of parallelism, convergence, and reversals. This innovative book is certain to provoke discussion of homoplasy compelling evidence for particular theories of evolutionary change - The first book on this increasingly interesting subject - Includes authoritative treatments from leading experts expressing a variety of viewpoints

Like gems flitting through the sky, hummingbirds attract our eye. But they are more than flash: they are critical pollinators in their ecosystems. Similarly in the darkness of night, nectar-feeding bats perform the same important ecological service as their colorful avian counterparts. Vertebrate pollinators like bats and birds are keystone species of the Sonoran Desert. Biologist Theodore H. Fleming uses these species—found in the desert around his home—to address two big questions dealing with the evolution of life on Earth: How did these animals evolve, and how did they coevolve with their food plants? A deeply thoughtful and researched dive into evolutionary history, Birds, Bats, and Blooms offers an engaging trip across evolutionary trajectories as it discusses nectar-feeding birds and bats and their coevolution as pollinators with flowering plants. The primary focus is on New World birds such as hummingbirds and their chiropteran counterparts (nectar-feeding bats in the family Phyllostomidae). It also discusses their Old World ecological counterparts, including sunbirds, honeyeaters, lorikeets, and nectar-feeding bats in the Pteropodidae family. Fleming also addresses the conservation status of these beautiful animals. Through engaging prose, Fleming pulls together the most recent research in evolutionary biology and pairs it with accounts of his personal interactions with bats and birds. His account includes fourteen color photographs taken by the author during his research trips around the world.