Convergent evolution of vascular optimization in kelp (Laminariales).

ABSTRACT: Terrestrial plants and mammals, although separated by a great evolutionary distance, have each arrived at a highly conserved body plan in which universal allometric scaling relationships govern the anatomy of vascular networks and key functional metabolic traits. The universality of allometric scaling suggests that these phyla have each evolved an 'optimal' transport strategy that has been overwhelmingly adopted by extant species. To truly evaluate the dominance and universality of vascular optimization, however, it is critical to examine other, lesser-known, vascularized phyla. The brown algae (Phaeophyceae) are one such group--as distantly related to plants as mammals, they have convergently evolved a plant-like body plan and a specialized phloem-like transport network. To evaluate possi

SUBMITTER: Drobnitch ST 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4614777 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature