The Families and Genera of Vascular Plants Pteridophytes and Gymnosperms

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Author :  K. Kubitzki, K. U.  Kramer  and  P.  S.  Gree

Published in : Springer

ISBN : 978-3-642-08080-7

File Type : pdf

File Size : 22.0 mb

Language : English

Description

The study  of  organismic diversity has witnessed  an  unprecedented upswing in the last two decades. The empirical basis  of  botanical systematics has been broadened far beyond the realm  of macromorphological traits on which systematists have based their decisions for more than 200 years. Electron microscopy and phytochemistry have become standard tools, rendering evidence from micromorphology and micro molecules accessible to systematic research. The analysis  of  truly biological phenomena, like the interaction between various groups  of  organisms, or the strategy  of  reproduction, has been added to the already existing fields  of  floral and dispersal biology. The study  of  macromolecules permits genealogical reconstructions with the greatest precision. Considerable progress has also been made in the methodology for reconstructing phylogeny. All this  is  in consonance with the strong intellectual stimulus that the study  of  phylogeny seems to exert  on  taxonomists.  It  is  small wonder then that a large proportion  of  the taxonomists' activities  is  absorbed by the attempt to reconstruct phylogeny at all hierarchical levels.