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FORM MATCHES FUNCTION. "The structure of the flower is clearly important in relation to pollen distribution and reception and in many hermaphroditic plant species flowers have evolved dramatically to suit particular pollination mechanisms." https://lnkd.in/gb3zS32 View in LinkedIn

SCENT DIMORPHISM. "There is a growing literature on the role of floral fragrance in pollinator attraction, raising the question of whether sexual dimorphism in floral scent occurs in dioecious species." https://lnkd.in/ge7JD6J View in LinkedIn

OUTCROSSING MECHANISMS. "The mechanisms in plants which promote outcrossing include the temporal separation of the maturation of the male and female organs within an otherwise perfect flower (dichogamy); self-incompatibility mechanisms, both sporophytic and gametophytic, where there is genetic control over the possible fertilization events, and dioecy, the spatial separation of the sexual organs on separate plants." https://lnkd.in/gb3zS32 View in LinkedIn

FLOWER PATTERNS. "In plants, flower pattern has been modified in a number of ways such that sexual reproduction involving outcrossing, and the consequent flow of genetic variation derived from mutation, is favoured (Darwin, 1876)." https://lnkd.in/gb3zS32 View in LinkedIn

NICHE ALTERATION DATA. "By growing plants of M. annus in soil previously occupied by females or males, Sánchez-Vilas and Pannell (2010) found that plants grown in soil in which females had previously grown were significantly smaller in terms of total biomass than those grown in soil previously occupied by males." https://lnkd.in/ge7JD6J View in LinkedIn

NICHE ALTERATION. "The possibility that the sexes modify their ecological niches had not been considered in any detail until recently, especially with regard to future offspring performance." https://lnkd.in/ge7JD6J View in LinkedIn

FROM EUROPE TO CHINA. “Ancient Y. pestis genomes obtained from medieval victims have indicated the presence of a radiation event immediately preceding the Black Death that gave rise to most of the strain diversity circulating in the world today. Based on the relationship of ancient European and modern genomes, it was recently suggested that a wave of plague might have traveled from Europe toward Asia after the Black Death, eventually settling in China and later giving rise to the third pandemic.” https://lnkd.in/g9Pgxuv View in LinkedIn

HISTORICAL RECORD. “To our knowledge, bubonic plague, and presumably also the pneumonic and septicemic forms, have been the likely culprit of three major pandemics, namely the Plague of Justinian (Eastern Roman Empire, 6th and 8th centuries AD), the second-wave plague pandemic (Europe, mid-14th century Black Death until the mid-18th century AD), and the third plague pandemic that started during the late 19th century in China. In recent years, however, ancient DNA (aDNA) has confirmed a Y. pestis involvement in both historical pandemics.” https://lnkd.in/g9Pgxuv View in LinkedIn

GENETIC LINEAGE. “Yersinia pestis evolved from the closely related zoonotic enterobacterium Y. pseudotuberculosis to become one of the most virulent pathogens known to humans. Its recent identification in ancient human material from Altai, Siberia suggests it caused human infections as early as 5,000 years ago, though its ability for flea-borne transmission leading to bubonic disease might have been absent in these older, divergent lineages.” https://lnkd.in/g9Pgxuv View in LinkedIn

AT LEAST THREE BLACK DEATHS. “Yersinia pestis has caused at least three human plague pandemics. The second (Black Death, 14–17th centuries) and third (19–20th centuries) have been genetically characterised, but there is only a limited understanding of the first pandemic, the Plague of Justinian (6–8th centuries).” https://lnkd.in/gY5rX65 View in LinkedIn