Phylogeny and Evolution of Angiosperms

Douglas E. Soltis, Pamela S. Soltis (both: U. of Florida-Gainesville), Peter K. Endress (U. of Zurich), and Mark W. Chase (Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew) synthesize the new understanding of the phylogeny of flowering plants that has emerged over the past decade. They also illustrate the effect that this phylogenetic framework has on interpreting character evolution. In addition to particular taxonomic groups, they look at classification, parallel and convergent evolution, floral diversification, and the evolution of genome size and base chromosome number. Annotation c2005 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Douglas E. Soltis is Professor in the Department of Botany at the University of Florida. His current research interests include: the study of higher level phylogenetic relationships and character evolution in the angiosperms; the genetic basis of key floral differences in basal angiosperms; the genetic and genomic consequences of polyploid speciation; conservation genetics of rare plant species, and phylogeography.

Pamela E. Soltis is Curator of Molecular Systematics and Evolutionary Genetics at the Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida. In this lab, scientists and students from many countries work with a variety of techniques to answer ecological and evolutionary questions at all taxonomic levels, including documenting the genetics of endangered species and using DNA sequences as a tool for understanding hybridization and polyploidy in plants. Other research interests include angiosperm phylogeny, floral evolution, and phylogeography.

Peter K. Endress is Professor in the Institute of Systematic Botany at the University of Zurich (Switzerland). His main research interests are in the field of macrosystematics of angiosperms, and flower diversity and evolution.

Mark W. Chase is Head of the Molecular Systematics Section in the Jodrell Laboratory at the Royal Botanic Gardens (Richmond, Surrey, UK). His main research interests are phylogenetics and classification of the angiosperms, particularly orchids.