Plant Diversity and Evolution

An understanding of plant diversity at both the genome and phenome level is important for both biodiversity conservation and plant breeding. This reviews aspects of plant evolution as it relates to variation in plant genomes and associated variations in plant phenomes. An understanding of plant diversity at both the genome and phenome level is important for both biodiversity conservation and plant breeding. Recent advances in genomics have also resulted in a growth of the subject of plant functional genomics. This book brings these areas together, by reviewing aspects of plant evolution as it relates to variation in plant genomes and associated variations in plant phenomes. Topics covered include chloroplast and mitochondrial genomes, reticulate evolution, polyploidy, population genetics within a species, the evolution of the flower, diversity in plant cell walls and in secondary metabolism, and the importance of plant diversity in ecology and agriculture.