Functional diversity and convergence in the evolution of plant reproductive structures.

ABSTRACT:

Background and aims

Structures that simultaneously perform many functional roles are likely to show a variety of morphological solutions to these demands, and thus probably exhibit high morphological disparity. In contrast, specialization for a few simple functions should result in a more limited suite of morphologies. We explore this idea using lycopsid reproductive structures, which, throughout their history, have performed a limited set of functional roles compared with the reproductive structures of other plant groups such as seed plants.

Methods

We scored living and fossil lycopsid taxa for 18 discrete character measurements and several continuous traits, including sporangium size, supporting axis diameter, and strobilus length and width. We used the discrete characters

SUBMITTER: Bonacorsi NK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6344085 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature