Great Mysteries to Zoologists Darwin s Abominable Mystery Rise of the birds from a dinosaur lineage Archaeopteryx origin of angiosperms Great Mysteries to Zoologists Great Mysteries to Zoologists Demise of the non avian dinosaur lineage Adaptive radiation of mammals after dinosaurs Eocene in Kansas Edmontosaurus KT event Greatest Mystery to Botanists Angiosperm Dominance Origin and rise of angiosperms Angiosperm Dominance Angiosperm Dominance Angiosperm Dominance Angiosperm Dominance Gymnosperm Dominance Gymnosperm Dominance Fossil Record Angiosperms have NOT always dominated as seen by Charles Darwin tree like lycopods horsetails primitive gymnosperms the Carboniferous ferns cycads ginkos conifers the Triassic Jurassic flowering plants suddenly show up at start of Cretaceous Fossil Record Fossil Record as seen by Charles Darwin as seen by Charles Darwin by mid Cretaceous 50 families of angiosperms seen including 5 monocot including 4 ament catkin bearing by mid Cretaceous angiosperms also dominate the face of the earth based on fossil diversity of total fossils the Abominable Mystery The rapid development as far as we can judge of all the higher plants within recent geological time is an abominable mystery Darwin 1879 in a letter to Hooker the Abominable Mystery page 3 letter of 22 July 1879 Continues with speculations on how to answer the mystery originated in alpine conditions Joseph Dalton Hooker arose in response to rise of flower frequenting insects Director of the Kew Royal Botanic Garden and good friend of Darwin the only acknowledged person in the Origin of Species originated in isolated tropical island the 2012 Questions the 2012 Evidence 1 When did the Angiosperms arise 1 Modern fossil record 2 What were the first Angiosperms 2 Geographical distributions 3 Where did the Angiosperm arise 3 Morphological phylogenetics 4 From what Gymnosperm clade did the Angiosperms arise 4 Evo devo studies of flowers 2009 AJB volume 5 Why did they take over the world s flora 5 Molecular phylogenetics 6 Molecular clocks Pollen Leaves Flowers Fruit Pollen Record Pollen Record ubiquitous preserves well due to exine layer ubiquitous preserves well due to exine layer often diagnostic to specific gymnosperm or angiosperm groups often diagnostic to specific gymnosperm or angiosperm groups but different levels of production and fossilization little Senecio pollen in tropics abundant pine pollen in lake sediments Pollen Record gymnosperm vs early angiosperm pollen differentiation often requires TEM vs SEM visualization both one pored Pollen Record Jim Doyle UC Davis all pre Cretaceous pollen gymnosperm Neocomian 130mya oldest angiosperm single pored pollen basal angiosperms Barr Aptian 125mya oldest tricolpate pollen eudicots Pollen Record Albian 110 mya diversity Pollen Record pollen diversification continues through Upper Cretaceous into Tertiary magnoliids monocots cordate leaved eudicots aments wind pollinated Upper Cretaceous 100 mya angiosperm pollen dominates family Asteraceae first seen in mid Eocene 47mya genus Fuchsia Onagraceae first seen 30mya in Oligocene Leaf Record Leaf Record consistent trends emerge with leaf fossils consistent trends emerge with leaf fossils Neocomian 130mya Rogersia basal angiosperm simple pinnately veined entire early Aptian 125mya Archaefructus basal angiosperm palmately compound Aptian to Albian 120110mya magnoliids pinnate veins cordates palmate veins monocots parallel veins Leaf Record Leaf Record consistent trends emerge with leaf fossils consistent trends emerge with leaf fossils early Aptian 125mya Archaefructus basal angiosperm palmately compound great leaf diversity within 15my by Upper Cretaceous 100mya a variety of primitive eudicot leaves are seen Aptian to Albian 120110mya magnoliids pinnate veins cordates palmate veins monocots parallel veins Leaf Record consistent trends emerge with leaf fossils by Upper Cretaceous 100mya a variety of primitive eudicot leaves are seen Platanoid lobed Sapindopsis compound Flower Record the Magnolia primitive idea has biased the way paleobotanists have looked at the fossil record 1 bisexual flower 2 spirally arranged stamens carpels 3 perianth parts 4 cone like receptacle 5 beetle pollination what does the fossil record actually say Flower Record Flower Record large flowered insect pollinated flowers are seen such as these 98 90 mya mid late Cretaceous fossils large flowered insect pollinated flowers are seen such as these 95 85 mya late Cretaceous fossils but the earliest and most numerous are small bisexual or unisexual wind or insect pollinated Archaeanthus Magnoliaceae from Kansas 98 95mya Magnoliaceae with stingless bee 90mya Flower Record what are the earliest fossil flowers Flower Record what are the earliest fossil flowers 1990 Leo Hickey 1996 Chris Hill 120 mya Australia small unisexual flowers placed into Piperales pepper wild ginger Bevhalstia pebia 130 mya England small 25cm aquatic herb dissected leaves Flower Record what are the earliest fossil flowers Flower Record what are the earliest fossil flowers 1998 David Dilcher Chinese colleagues read Sun et al morphology phylogenetic some analyses place it before Amborella Archaefructus 125 135 1st mya China small dissected leaves stamens and carpels on long axis Flower Record what are the earliest fossil flowers 2011 David Dilcher Chinese colleagues again Summary of Angiosperm Evolution 1 When did the Angiosperms arise Leefructus Fossils after boundary of Jurassic and Cretaceous 130mya 122mya China DNA some molecular clocks suggest 200mya first Eudicot Ranunculaceae Summary of Angiosperm Evolution stem node with living gymnosperms crown node of living angiosperms 1 When did the Angiosperms arise 350mya perhaps older but unseen in fossil record radiation of angiosperms 225mya Stem lineage perhaps older radiation but we can t tell them apart from ancestors share features of gymnosperms and some but not all of angiosperms Magall n 2010 Summary of Angiosperm Evolution Summary of Angiosperm Evolution 2 What were the first Angiosperms 2 What were the first Angiosperms Magnolia primitive not justified Magnolia primitive not justified Amborella and water lilies are first extant taxa to separate Amborella and water lilies are first extant taxa to separate earliest extinct fossils are small probably aquatic plants Summary of Angiosperm Evolution 3 Where did the Angiosperms arise Australasia if based on earliest diverging extant families Summary of Angiosperm