Year: 2023
Type: article
Abstract: The plant kingdom exhibits diverse bodyplans, from single-celled algae to complex multicellular land plants, but it is unclear how this phenotypic disparity was achieved. Here we show that the living divisions comprise discrete clusters within morphospace, separated largely by reproductive innovations, the extinction of evolutionary intermediates and lineage-specific evolution. Phenotypic complexity correlates not with disparity but with ploidy history, reflecting the role of genome duplication in plant macroevolution. Overall, the plant kingdom exhibits a pattern of episodically increasing disparity throughout its evolutionary history that mirrors the evolutionary floras and reflects ecological expansion facilitated by reproductive innovations. This pattern also parallels that seen in the animal and fungal kingdoms, suggesting a general pattern for the evolution of multicellular bodyplans.
Source: Nature Plants
Language: English
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Estimated APC paid: $11,690
Awards: G1518256397, G207851238, G2113944589, Perturbation of the Earth System at the Proterozoic-Phanerozoic transition and the resilience of the biosphere, Agency, Directionality, and Function: Foundations for a Science of Purpose, G3804619437, Deciphering the Origin of the Eukaryotic Cell, The origin of plants: genomes, rocks, and biochemical cycles, G5028127450, G5387056556, Improving Bayesian methods for estimating divergence times integrating genomic and trait data, G6076260660, G642636562, The Origin of Plants: Genomes, rocks, and biogeochemical cycles., G6865111713, An integrated quantitative approach to characterising organismal design-space and tests of evolutionary causality, G7983612739, Efficient Bayesian phylogenomic dating with new models of trait evolution and rich diversities of living and fossil species, G8732739877, G8832513278
OpenAlex ID: W4386415978