Plant Diversity and Evolution

Flowering plants, or angiosperms, make up the vast majority of plant species on Earth and underpin nearly every terrestrial ecosystem and agricultural system humans depend on. Researchers in this area reconstruct how those roughly 300,000 species are related to one another, when and where major lineages originated, and what drove the extraordinary diversification that made angiosperms so dominant across the planet. Molecular phylogenetics has transformed the field in recent decades, often overturning centuries-old classifications and revealing unexpected evolutionary relationships, yet significant uncertainties remain in the deep backbone of the angiosperm tree of life. Active work now focuses on pinpointing the geographic origins of major groups, understanding why some lineages diversified explosively while others stagnated, and reconciling molecular evidence with an increasingly rich fossil record.

Works

292,223

Total citations

1,129,266

Keywords

Angiosperm PhylogenyFlowering PlantsBiogeographyDiversificationPhylogeneticsEvolutionary History