Today, flowering plants, or angiosperms, are the most species dense as well as most ecologically abundant and diverse branch on the green plant evolutionary tree of life. Angiosperms literally makeup the fabric of our modern society by providing food, medicines, as well as furnishing essential ecological services that define global biogeochemical function. Paradoxically, the flowering plants are also the youngest major group of land-based life, which raises the question: How did angiosperms achieve such high diversity and nearly complete worldwide dominance of plant communities over a relatively brief time in plant evolution? The goal of the research is to understand early ecology flowering plants from a mechanistic ecophysiological perspective. The research integrates recent advances in living ?basal? angiosperm phylogenetics with fine-scale physiological analyses to trace the early evolutionary diversification of physiological mechanisms in angiosperms. Specific physiological approaches include the stomatal regulation and leaf gas exchange, optical transport inside leaves and photosynthetic capacity, and leaf water-use performance. By attaching fine-scale ecophysiological mechanisms to explicit leaf anatomical traits observed in the earliest known angiosperm fossil leaves, the research will uncover the habitat contexts and the selective pressures bearing on early angiosperms and how early angiosperms responded ecologically to Cretaceous global environmental change.

In broader impact, the research will make the resources available in the PI''s laboratory at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville for the education, mentoring, and training for undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral researchers in research, oral presentation, critical thinking as well as knowledge of botany, ecophysiology, and evolution. This work will also create unique training and educational experiences for US students working in partnership with Latin American and Papuan undergraduates participating in supported field research in Peru and Papua New Guinea, respectively.

Agency
National Science Foundation (NSF)
Institute
Division of Integrative Organismal Systems (IOS)
Type
Standard Grant (Standard)
Application #
0714156
Program Officer
Irwin Forseth
Project Start
Project End
Budget Start
2007-09-01
Budget End
2012-08-31
Support Year
Fiscal Year
2007
Total Cost
$340,000
Indirect Cost
Name
University of Tennessee Knoxville
Department
Type
DUNS #
City
Knoxville
State
TN
Country
United States
Zip Code
37996