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Abstract Detail


Innovations in organismal botany - a tribute to the pioneering studies of Donald A. Eggert

Rothwell, Gar [1].

Rooting the Paleozoic's largest trees; morphology, development, and homologies of Stigmaria.

The morphogenus Stigmaria Brongniart is probably the most ubiquitous and extensively studied of all late Paleozoic wetland plant fossils. Stigmaria has long been regarded as the well-understood rooting system of arborescent lycopsids; yet, in the 1960s Don Eggert embarked on a detailed reexamination and reevaluation of the structure, development, homologies, and biological affinities of this magnificent fossil. Eggert's studies and the subsequent studies they spawned have fundamentally altered perceptions of the first giant forest trees, of the homologies for organs of the quillwort Isoetes, and of the evolution of polar auxin regulation for the development of plant rooting systems. This presentation emphasizes the unique insights Eggert brought to this research agenda, the numerous advancements in understanding of Carboniferous wetland vegetation that they simulated, and recent studies that have brought together plant molecular biology and plant paleontology to develop a much deeper understanding of land plant evolution and phlogeny.

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1 - Ohio University, Department of Environmental and Plant Biology, Athens, OH, 45701, USA

Keywords:
bipolar growth
polar auxin regulation
rhizomorph evolution
tree architecture.

Presentation Type: Symposium or Colloquium Presentation
Session: SY06
Location: Lindell D/Chase Park Plaza
Date: Tuesday, July 12th, 2011
Time: 4:30 PM
Number: SY06006
Abstract ID:323


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