Plant evolution and climate over geological timescales

CK Boyce, JE Lee - Annual Review of Earth and Planetary …, 2017 - annualreviews.org
The terrestrial vegetation is unambiguously an important factor in the climate system,
modulating the exchange of energy, momentum, water vapor, and other trace gases …

Patterns in root traits of woody species hosting arbuscular and ectomycorrhizas: implications for the evolution of belowground strategies

LH Comas, HS Callahan, PE Midford - Ecology and evolution, 2014 - Wiley Online Library
Root traits vary enormously among plant species but we have little understanding of how
this variation affects their functioning. Of central interest is how root traits are related to plant …

Epiphytic leafy liverworts diversified in angiosperm-dominated forests

K Feldberg, H Schneider, T Stadler… - Scientific reports, 2014 - nature.com
Recent studies have provided evidence for pulses in the diversification of angiosperms,
ferns, gymnosperms and mosses as well as various groups of animals during the …

Soil salt and microbiome diversification over the past 3700 million years

GJ Retallack - Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 2022 - Elsevier
A geological history of pedogenic salts and their microbiomes can now be reconstructed
from a review of thousands of described paleosols ranging in age back 3700 Ma. The …

Gigantism and its implications for the history of life

GJ Vermeij - PLoS One, 2016 - journals.plos.org
Gigantism—very large body size—is an ecologically important trait associated with
competitive superiority. Although it has been studied in particular cases, the general …

Evolution of a unique anatomical precision in angiosperm leaf venation lifts constraints on vascular plant ecology

MA Zwieniecki, CK Boyce - Proceedings of the Royal …, 2014 - royalsocietypublishing.org
The main role of leaf venation is to supply water across the photosynthetic surface to keep
stomata open and allow access to atmospheric CO2 despite evaporative demand. The …

The evolution of bark mechanics and storage across habitats in a clade of tropical trees

JA Rosell, ME Olson - American Journal of Botany, 2014 - Wiley Online Library
• Premise of the study: Bark functional strategies vary conspicuously within communities. As
a result, predicting most community‐level bark traits based on environment often reveals …

Plant hydraulics as a central hub integrating plant and ecosystem function: meeting report for 'Emerging Frontiers in Plant Hydraulics'(Washington, DC, May 2015)

L Sack, MC Ball, C Brodersen, SD Davis… - 2016 - Wiley Online Library
Water plays a central role in plant biology and the efficiency of water transport throughout
the plant affects both photosynthetic rate and growth, an influence that scales up …

Stomatal design principles in synthetic and real leaves

MA Zwieniecki, KS Haaning… - Journal of the …, 2016 - royalsocietypublishing.org
Stomata are portals in plant leaves that control gas exchange for photosynthesis, a process
fundamental to life on Earth. Gas fluxes and plant productivity depend on external factors …

Leaf fossil record suggests limited influence of atmospheric CO2 on terrestrial productivity prior to angiosperm evolution

CK Boyce, MA Zwieniecki - Proceedings of the National Academy of …, 2012 - pnas.org
Declining CO2 over the Cretaceous has been suggested as an evolutionary driver of the
high leaf vein densities (7–28 mm mm− 2) that are unique to the angiosperms throughout all …