linkedin post 2019-12-08 07:05:29

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CONSERVED MERISTEM GENES. "Leaves in vascular plants are produced by determinate growth on the flanks of indeterminate shoot apical meristems. Inderminate growth of the shoot apical meristem is controlled by the knotted-like homeobox gene family (KNOX). KNOX genes are present in some green algae (e.g. Acetabularia), mosses, ferns, gymnosperms and angiosperms and their function may be highly conserved." http://aob.oxfordjournals.org/content/96/3/345.full.pdf View in LinkedIn
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linkedin post 2019-12-08 07:02:54

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PLANTS ACCELERATED ANIMAL EVOLUTION. "The recognition that plant evolution responds to and influences CO2 over millions of years reveals the existence of an intricate web of vegetation feedbacks regulating the long-term carbon cycle. Several of these feedbacks destabilized CO2 and climate during the late Palaeozoic but appear to have quickened the pace of terrestrial plant and animal evolution at that time." http://aob.oxfordjournals.org/content/96/3/345.full.pdf View in LinkedIn
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linkedin post 2019-12-08 06:59:07

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SINKING CARBON. "Surprisingly, plants effectively policed their own evolution since the decrease in CO2 was brought about as terrestrial floras evolved accelerating the rate of silicate rock weathering and enhancing sedimentary organic carbon burial, both of which are long-term sinks for CO2." http://aob.oxfordjournals.org/content/96/3/345.full.pdf View in LinkedIn
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linkedin post 2019-12-08 06:55:21

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EXISTING MACHINERY. "Molecular genetics indicates that the developmental mechanisms required for leaf production in vascular plants were recruited long before the advent of large megaphylls. According to theory, this morphogenetic potential was only realized as the concentration of atmospheric CO2 declined during the late Palaeozoic." http://aob.oxfordjournals.org/content/96/3/345.full.pdf View in LinkedIn
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linkedin post 2019-12-08 06:52:06

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SECONDARY EFFECTS. "Deeper roots accessed water and nutrients from a greater volume of soil, whilst xylem conduit enlargement and the appearance of secondary growth of xylem by the end of the Devonian increased the hydraulic conductance through stems and trunks to the leafy canopy, helping to maintain higher transpiration rates." http://aob.oxfordjournals.org/content/96/3/345.full.pdf View in LinkedIn
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linkedin post 2019-12-08 06:46:08

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WHOPPING INCREASE IN STOMATA DENSITIES. "By the time large laminate leaves became widespread in late Devonian/early Carboniferous fossil floras, the concentration of atmospheric CO2 had fallen, and stomatal densities had increased by up to a 100 times the value of early vascular land plant axes." http://aob.oxfordjournals.org/content/96/3/345.full.pdf View in LinkedIn
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linkedin post 2019-12-08 06:42:29

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BIG LEAF PROBLEM. "In contrast, a megaphyll intercepting at least twice as much solar energy (per unit area of the photosynthetic organ) reached temperatures approaching the highly conserved lethal threshold of extant tropical taxa because the same limited evaporative cooling was inadequate to dissipate the absorbed thermal energy." http://aob.oxfordjournals.org/content/96/3/345.full.pdf View in LinkedIn
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linkedin post 2019-12-08 06:39:14

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AVOIDING LETHAL OVER-HEATING. "The rise in stomatal density held special significance for the evolution of leaves by permitting greater evaporative cooling and alleviating the requirement for convective heat loss. Simulations indicate that archaic land plants with axial stems, few stomata, and low transpiration rates only avoided lethal over-heating because they intercepted a minimal quantity of solar energy." http://aob.oxfordjournals.org/content/96/3/345.full.pdf View in LinkedIn
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