1 The evolutionary record and methods of reconstruction — 1
1.1 Introduction — 1
1.2 The geological timescale — 3
1.3 Methods of reconstruction — 3
1.4 Phylogenetic trees — 20
1.5 Dating methods — 20
Summary — 25
2 Earliest forms of plant life — 27
2.1 The earliest environments — 27
2.2 Accumulation of organic material and formation of the first cell — 31
2.3 The first prokaryotes: the geological evidence — 33
2.4 Evolution of photosynthesis — 39
2.5 Evolution of the eukaryotes — 41
2.6 Possible triggering mechanisms of eukaryotic evolution — 50
Summary — 53
3 The colonization of land — 55
3.1 Environmental changes during the Cambrian and Ordovician (541–443 Ma) — 55
3.2 Fossil evidence for plant terrestrialization — 61
3.3 Examples of earliest land plants in the fossil record — 72
3.4 Evolutionary trends: green algae to land plants — 77
3.5 Evolutionary trends in land plants: non-vascular to vascular — 83
3.6 Biogeographical distribution of the earliest land plants in the late Silurian and early Devonian (~430–390 Ma) — 86
3.7 The influence of land-dwelling plants on the Earth system — 87
Summary — 90
4 The first forests — 92
4.1 Environmental changes spanning the mid Devonian to end Carboniferous (~394–299 Ma) — 92
4.2 Major changes and innovations in the plant fossil record during the mid Devonian to end Carboniferous (~394–299 Ma) — 98
4.3 Evidence of further plant adaptations to land dwelling between mid Devonian and end Carboniferous (~394–299 Ma) — 99
4.4 Further adaptations to the plant life cycle — 104
4.5 Earliest trees in the fossil record — 113
4.6 Biogeographical distribution of global vegetation during the early (~359–342 Ma) and late Carboniferous (~318–299 Ma) — 135
Summary — 144
5 Major emergence of the seed plants — 146
5.1 Environmental changes during the Permian (299–252 Ma) — 146
5.2 Evolution of cycads, bennetittes, ginkgos, glossopterids, and gnetales — 149
5.3 Biogeographical distribution of global vegetation during the middle Permian (270–260 Ma) — 164
5.4 Major radiation of the conifers and other seed plant lineages — 167
5.5 Biogeographical distribution of global vegetation during the early Jurassic (201–182 Ma) — 173
Summary — 223
6 Flowering plant origins — 179
6.1 Evidence for the first angiosperms — 179
6.2 Nature and distribution of the earliest angiosperms — 196
6.3 Why so late? — 202
6.4 Evolutionary trends: gymnosperms to angiosperms — 214
6.5 Biogeographical distribution of global vegetation during the late Cretaceous (~100–66 Ma) — 217
Summary — 223
7 The past 66 million years — 225
7.1 Environmental changes over the past 66 million years (cenozoic) — 225
7.2 Biogeographical distribution of global vegetation between ~60 and 50 Ma (late Palaeocene to early Eocene) — 231
7.3 The evolution of grasses — 239
7.4 Decline of the forests and spread of aridland vegetation — 243
7.5 Biogeographical distribution of global vegetation between 34–23 Ma (Oligocene) — 246
7.6 The evolution of plants using the C4 and CAM photosynthetic pathways — 251
7.7 Biogeographical distribution of global vegetation by 11.6–5.3 Ma (late Miocene) — 254
Summary — 263
8 Mass extinctions and persistent populations — 265
8.1 Definition of mass extinction — 265
8.2 Evidence in the geological record: plants versus animals — 266
8.3 Why no mass extinction in the plant fossil record? — 287
8.4 Evidence for persistence in the plant fossil record — 288
8.5 Adaptations of plants for persistence through intervals of environmental change — 290
Summary — 296
9 Evolutionary theories and the plant fossil record — 298
9.1 Evolutionary theories — 298
9.2 Patterns of evolutionary change in the plant fossil record — 301
9.3 The mechanisms driving evolutionary change — 307
Conclusions — 331
Bibliography
— 333
Glossary
— 378
Index
— 385
