How do flowers develop? This is a puzzle tackled by Wei Lai and Louis Ronse de Craene in their paper What is the nature of petals in Caryophyllaceae? Developmental evidence clarifies their evolutionary origin. In it...
Tag - heterochrony
Alun Salt
Establishing the cell biology of apomixis in Boechera
The genus Boechera (Brassicaceae) is comprised of both sexual and apomictic species, permitting comparative analyses of meiotic disturbances and parthenogenesis. Hybridization, polyploidy and environmental adaptation...
Alex Assiry
Evidence that divergent selection shapes a developmental cline in a forest tree species complex
Evolutionary change in developmental trajectories (heterochrony) is a major mechanism of adaptation in plants and animals. However, there are few detailed studies of the variation in the timing of developmental events...
botanyone
Why are the seed cones of conifers so diverse at pollination?
Wind-pollinated plants rely on the same breezes to deliver pollen. If the problem's the same for all of them, why do conifers have different shaped cones to catch pollen?
An evo-devo perspective on diversity and disparity
Diversity (number of included species) and disparity (extent of morphospace occupied) are indicators of a clade’s success. Many large genera show high diversity with low disparity; others like Euphorbia are highly...
Stem anatomy and growth forms in perianth-bearing Piperales
Anatomical and morphological traits among the perianth-bearing Piperales are examined to detect trends in growth form evolution and developmental processes.
