Plant variation and evolution (World university library) - Hardcover

Briggs, D. & S. M. Walters.

4.4

5 ratings by Goodreads

9780303748786: Plant variation and evolution (World university library)

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0303748788 ISBN 13: 9780303748786

Publisher: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1969

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Natural populations of plants show intricate patterns of variation. European botanists of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries used this variation to classify different 'kinds' into a hierarchy of family, genus, and species. Although useful, these classifications were based on a belief in the fixity of species and the static patterns of variation. Darwin's theory of evolution changed this view; populations and species varied in time and space and were part of a continuing process of evolution. The development of molecular techniques has transformed our understanding of microevolution and the evolutionary history of the flowering plants. This new edition reviews recent progress in its historical context, showing how hypotheses and models developed in the past have been critically tested. The authors consider the remarkable insights that molecular biology has given us into the processes of evolution in populations of cultivated, wild and weedy species, the threats of extinction faced by many endangered species and the wider evolutionary history of the flowering plants as revealed by cladistic methods.

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Review:

'... the book provides students with an easily gained insight and appreciation of just what it is that plant evolutionists do.' Dan Schoen, Trends in Plant Science

'... a thought provoking and readable volume.' John Warren, Scottish Agricultural College

' ... suitable for university students in Environmental Sciences, Agricultural Sciences, Botany and Plant Biology. It is particularly a useful book for updates. The book is highly recommended for the professional practitioner in the field as a background, for plant physiologists and people in related fields it provides a thorough review of the field as it now stands. It may stimulate many new ideas in these areas.' Vassiolios Sarafis, Journal of Plant Physiology

'There is no other comparable text available. As a textbook on variation in plants, this book is a classic.' Journal of Applied Ecology

Book Description:

Our understanding of microevolution and the evolutionary history of the flowering plants has been transformed by the use of molecular techniques. This new edition reviews recent progress in its historical context, showing how hypotheses and models developed in the past have been critically tested via these new techniques.

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