Abstract
You may have noticed that there are lots of different kinds of plants in your own backyard or neighborhood, and you may even have heard of the concept of evolution. But have you ever wondered what forces have contributed to creating all these plants, with different shapes and colors, all over the world? Or how scientists hope to understand and explain how so many kinds of life came to be over millions of years? Using a mysterious case of look-alike flowers living on opposite sides of an ocean, we will show the way researchers piece together evolutionary histories by using plant DNA and the knowledge of what plants look like today. Let us build a scientific time machine and solve the mystery!
Highlights
You may have noticed that there are lots of different kinds of plants in your own backyard or neighborhood, and you may even have heard of the concept of evolution
Have you ever wondered what forces have contributed to creating all these plants, with different shapes and colors, all over the world? Or how scientists hope to understand and explain how so many kinds of life came to be over millions of years? Using a mysterious case of look-alike flowers living on opposite sides of an ocean, we will show the way researchers piece together evolutionary histories by using plant DNA and the knowledge of what plants look like today
Plants are the foundation of every ecosystem, from tundras to tropical rain forests and wetlands, even deserts! In these different ecosystems, there are plants of different shapes and sizes
Summary
Scientists use diagrams called phylogenetic trees (Figure 1), similar to a family tree, to show evolutionary relationships between ancestors (similar to grandparents) and their descendants (similar to children). If you follow the lines from bats, hummingbirds, and sunbirds all the way back to the common ancestor of birds and mammals, this ancestor did not have wings and could not have passed wings down to birds and bats This means that bat wings and bird wings are a case of convergence. In the tropical Americas, hummingbirds pollinate some Costaceae flowers [3] These plants live far apart and use different pollinators, their flowers look alike and share a similar morphology (Figures 2B,C). We will combine knowledge of the evolutionary relationships of Costaceae species with our knowledge of the different pollination syndromes to answer a central question: do birdpollinated species in Asia and the tropical Americas look alike because of homology, or convergence? Species of Costaceae present an evolutionary mystery! Why do some species living in the tropical Americas look so much like species living far away in South East Asia? In this paper, we will combine knowledge of the evolutionary relationships of Costaceae species with our knowledge of the different pollination syndromes to answer a central question: do birdpollinated species in Asia and the tropical Americas look alike because of homology, or convergence?
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
