| Abstract Detail
Innovations in organismal botany - a tribute to the pioneering studies of Donald A. Eggert Zavada, Michael [1]. The contributions of the fossil record to understanding the evolution of morphological and functional innovations in the seed plant microgametophyte. The latter half of the 20th century witnessed the rise of scientists that began shifting the intellectual center of paleobotany from primarily a taxonomic inventory of the fossil record that provided data on the polarity and evolution of various plant characteristics and taxa, to a discipline that increasingly became concerned with the paleobiology of fossil taxa. Don Eggert was one of the early scientists that began to transition to the new paradigm. His contributions not only explored new methods, but new questions that inspired contemporaries to not only draw on comparative morphological data, but explore and extract data from disciplines that were traditionally thought to be restricted to the study of extant plants, e.g., development. In this presentation the innovations of Don Eggerts contributions to paleobiological questions is reviewed. A survey of the important evolutionary changes in the seed plant microgametophyte are discussed, i.e., the spore / pollen transition and its bearing on our understanding of subsequent changes in polarity and aperture formation and function, functional significance of the spore / pollen wall, morphological changes of the microgametophyte related to reproductive biology, pollination biology and ultimately to the evolution of higher seed plants. Broader Impacts:
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1 - East Tennessee State University, Biological Sciences, Box 70703, Johnson City, TN, 37614-1710, USA
Keywords:
microgametophyte
Pollen evolution
Eggert.
Presentation Type: Symposium or Colloquium Presentation
Session: SY06
Location: Lindell D/Chase Park Plaza
Date: Tuesday, July 12th, 2011
Time: 4:00 PM
Number: SY06005
Abstract ID:486 |
