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Key questions and challenges in angiosperm macroevolution
Author(s) -
Sauquet Hervé,
Magallón Susana
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
new phytologist
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.742
H-Index - 244
eISSN - 1469-8137
pISSN - 0028-646X
DOI - 10.1111/nph.15104
Subject(s) - macroevolution , diversification (marketing strategy) , biology , ecology , evolutionary biology , adaptive radiation , key (lock) , biodiversity , phylogenomics , fossil record , phylogenetics , clade , biochemistry , marketing , gene , business
ContentsSummary 1170 I. Introduction 1170 II. Six key questions 1172 III. Three key challenges 1177 IV. Conclusions 1181Acknowledgements 1182References 1183Summary The origin and rapid diversification of angiosperms (flowering plants) represent one of the most intriguing topics in evolutionary biology. Despite considerable progress made in complementary fields over the last two decades (paleobotany, phylogenetics, ecology, evo‐devo, genomics), many important questions remain. For instance, what has been the impact of mass extinctions on angiosperm diversification? Are the angiosperms an adaptive radiation? Has morphological evolution in angiosperms been gradual or pulsed? We propose that the recent and ongoing revolution in macroevolutionary methods provides an unprecedented opportunity to explore long‐standing questions that probably hold important clues to understand present‐day biodiversity. We present six key questions that explore the origin and diversification of angiosperms. We also identify three key challenges to address these questions: (1) the development of new integrative models that include diversification, multiple intrinsic and environmental traits, biogeography and the fossil record all at once, whilst accounting for sampling bias and heterogeneity of macroevolutionary processes through time and among lineages; (2) the need for large and standardized synthetic databases of morphological variation; and (3) continuous effort on sampling the fossil record, but with a revolution in current paleobotanical practice.