Evolutionary Biology: A Plant Perspective

by Mitchell B. Cruzan

Many of the characteristics that distinguish plants from other living organisms can be traced to their origin early in the history of life. Features such as a multicellular haploid life stage, prevalent hermaphroditism, self-fertilization, and general dependence on biotic and abiotic vectors for reproduction stem directly from the ability of plants to obtain energy from the sun. This novel mode of energy capture had far-ranging implications for plant evolution. It not only fueled the tremendous diversification of life on Earth, but also had far-ranging implications for the evolution of early photosynthetic organisms and eventually land plants. Understanding the evolutionary processes for the proliferation and diversification of plants requires an appreciation of their unique biological features. While the processes of mutation, selection, genetic drift, and gene flow are the same for both plants and animals, there are specific characteristics of plants that affect their
evolution.

Unique traits of plants affect everything from the fate of mutations, to exposure to selection in the haploid life stage, to the distribution of genetic variation within and among populations, and ultimately the rates and patterns of diversification. This book examines the origins of the unique features of plants and the implications of these features for evolutionary processes. Author Mitchell B. Cruzan provides discussion of contemporary topics such as population genetics, phylogeography, phylogenetics, ecological genetics, and genomics. The content covered is essential to a wide range of advanced courses in plant biology.

552 pages, Hardcover

Published October 17, 2018

About the author

Mitch Cruzan is a Professor of Biology at Portland State University. He received his BA and MA from California State University, Fullerton, and his PhD from SUNY, Stony Brook, and served as a post-doc at the University of Toronto and The University of Georgia. His first faculty position was at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and he has been a faculty member at Portland State since 2002. He teaches upper-division courses including Evolution, Evolutionary Genomics, Conservation Genetics, Plant Reproduction, and Plant Evolutionary Biology. In his research he utilizes ecological and molecular genetic and genomic techniques to address questions in plant ecology and evolutionary biology. His research includes the evolutionary consequences of mutation accumulation in plants, as well as studies on plant reproduction, hybridization, invasive species, phylogeography, and dispersal. He is a Senior Editor for a leading journal in his field (Molecular Ecology). He is the author on more than 80 scientific publications, an advanced text book titled Evolutionary Biology – A Plant Perspective (Oxford University Press), and has written a popular science book on human evolution titled Looking Down the Tree – The Evolutionary Biology of Human Origins (2025, Oxford University Press).

Reviews

[Yanick Punter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well-rounded book.
Written accessible, though - for me - it had some difficult parts (some chapters include densely detailed stuff). I would recommend reading this book if you are into - or - want to get into - evolutionary biology.