International Review of Cytology

A century of research on heterostylous plants has passed since the publication of Charles Darwin's book "The Different Forms of Flowers on Plants of the Same Species" in 1877 summarizing his extensive observations and experiments on these complex breeding systems involving genetic polymorphisms of floral sex organs. Since then heterostylous plants have provided a rich source of material for evolutionary biologists and today they represent one of the classic research paradigms for approaches to the study of evolution and adaptation. The present book is the first modern and comprehensive accont of the subject. In 10 chapters it is concerned with the evolution, genetics, development, morphology, and adaptive significance of heterostyly. Broad syntheses of research on heterostyly as well as new theoretical ideas and experimental data are included.

Plant Development and Evolution, the latest release in the Current Topics in Developmental Biology series, highlights new advances in the field, with this new volume presenting interesting chapters on the Evolution of the plant body plan, Lateral root development and its role in evolutionary adaptation, the Development of the vascular system, the Development of the shoot apical meristem and phyllotaxis, the Evolution of leaf diversity, the Evolution of regulatory networks in land plants, The role of programed cell death in plant development, the Development and evolution of inflorescence architecture, the Molecular regulation of flower development, the Pre-meiotic another development, and much more. - Provides the authority and expertise of leading contributors from an international board of authors - Presents the latest release in the Current Topics in Developmental Biology series - Updated release includes the latest information on Plant Development and Evolution

view than its own proper males should fecundate each blossom." ANDREW KNIGHT Philosophical Transactions, 1799 Pollination mechanisms and reproduction have a decisive bearing upon rational procedures in plant breeding and crop production. This book intends to furnish' under one cover an integrated botanical, genetical and breeding-methodologi cal treatment of the reproductive biology of spermatophytes mainly angiosperms; it is based on an advanced topical course in plant breeding taught at the Hebrew University of Jerusa lem. We have tried to present a coverage which is concise, but as comprehensive as possible, of the pollination mechanism and modes of reproduction of higher plants, and to illustrate topics, whenever practicable, by examples from cultivated plants. Nevertheless, some relevant publications may have escaped our attention or may not be mentioned because of various limitations. The book is organized into three parts. The first part starts with an evaluation of the significance of the different pollination mechanisms for plant breeding and crop produc tion, describes modes of reproduction in higher plants and discusses ecology and dynamics of pollination. The second part is devoted to crops propagated by self pollination and describes specific breeding procedures for such crops. The third part details sexual reproduction in higher plants and handles three mechanisms involved in the prevention of self pollination and their utilization in plant breeding: sex expres sion, incompatibility, and male sterility.

Sexual reproduction is the predominant mode of perpetuation for flowering plant species. Investigating the reproductive strategies of plants has grown to become a vast area of research and, in crop plants, covers events from flowering to fruit and seed development; in wild species, it extends up to seed dispersal and seedling recruitment. Thus, reproduction determines the extent of yield in crop plants and, in wild plants, also determines the efficacy of recruiting new adults to the population, making this field important both from fundamental and applied plant biology perspectives. Moreover, in light of the growing concerns regarding food and nutritional security for the growing population and preserving biological diversity, reproductive biology of flowering plants has acquired special significance. Extensive studies on various facets of reproduction are being carried out around the world. However, these studies are scattered across research journals and reviews from diverse areas of biology. The present volume covers the whole spectrum of reproductive ecology, from phenology and floral biology, to sexuality and pollination biology/ecology including floral rewards, breeding systems, apomixis and seed dispersal. In turn, transgene flow, its biosafety and mitigation approaches, and the ‘global pollinator crisis’, which has become a major international concern in light of the urgent need to sustain crop yield and biodiversity, are discussed in detail. Given its scope, the book offers a valuable resource for students, teachers and researchers of botany, zoology, ecology, agriculture and forestry, as well as conservation biologists.

Attempting to collect, sort out, comment on and summarize from available literature the relevant information dealing with a specific problem is always a difficult task which necessarily involves sub jective choices and implies a considerable risk of errors and omis sions. The difficulty is increased when, as in the case of incompati bility in angiosperms, the subject to be treated traces its history to preDarwinian times and reflects the total sum of numerous in vestigations dealing with widely different disciplines, such as ge netics, cytology, biochemistry, systematics and physiology, which no single reviewer may pretend to master sufficiently to avoid completely the possibility of misinterpretation. Furthermore, the complexity of the task is further augmented by the fact that the student of incompatibility, confronted as he or she is with still poorly understood phenomena of genetic control and molecular recognition, often tends to be speculative and, in some instances, over-imaginative at the time of fitting research observations and experimental data into appropriate models, schemes and hypo theses. The compensation for such a state of affair is, however, a strong one and lies in the remarkable willingness and readiness of "in compatibilists" to cooperate, and to provide information, ex planations and illustrations to anyone attempting to penetrate into their universe of research and of reflection.

The recent discovery of diverse fossil flowers and floral organs in Cretaceous strata has revealed astonishing details about the structural and systematic diversity of early angiosperms. Exploring the rich fossil record that has accumulated over the last three decades, this is a unique study of the evolutionary history of flowering plants from their earliest phases in obscurity to their dominance in modern vegetation. The discussion provides comprehensive biological and geological background information, before moving on to summarise the fossil record in detail. Including previously unpublished results based on research into Early and Late Cretaceous fossil floras from Europe and North America, the authors draw on direct palaeontological evidence of the pattern of angiosperm evolution through time. Synthesising palaeobotanical data with information from living plants, this unique book explores the latest research in the field, highlighting connections with phylogenetic systematics, structure and the biology of extant angiosperms.