Integrative approaches to understanding angiosperm origins and diversity

Angiosperms are the most species-rich group of land plants, but their origins, together with their rapid and intense diversification still requires an explanation. More elaborate explanations can arise from studying evolutionary trends across taxa and throughout the Phanerozoic, as well as from integration between ideas that come from varying disciplines.

Descriptions of evolutionary chronologies should integrate between molecular phylogenies, descriptive palaeontology and palaeoecology. Katz explores the theory that ‘biodiversity creates biodiversity’ with evidence from past and present ecologies, in particular focusing upon the effect changes in herbivory and resource availability during the Phanerozoic period.