The beginnings of flowers
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Earth scientists have the privilege and pleasure of exploring all parts of the world, from poles to tropics, from great heights to ocean depths and even beyond, in their search for the information that addresses important challenges relating to the history of the planet.
In the Voyages of Great Discoveries series, internationally recognised experts in a variety of disciplines will present accounts of their adventures in the field, followed by the joys, tribulations and indeed satisfaction experienced in the laboratory as they make the discoveries that have transformed our science.
Our public lecture series are free events that attract a diverse audience, including the public, secondary school pupils and professionals. The series aims to open up areas of interest in the Earth and environmental sciences and present new research in this area to the public.
Abstract
The origin of flowers and flowering plants is one of the enduring mysteries of plant evolution. Darwin puzzled over the sudden and relatively late appearance of flowering plants in the geological record, and for many years it was widely believed that flowers, which are inherently delicate and ephemeral, would leave almost no paleontological trace.
Nevertheless, in recent decades a global search has revealed a rich record of exquisitely preserved flowers from the earliest phases of flowering plant evolution. These fossils show us what some of the earliest flowers were like, at a level of detail that was unimaginable just a few decades ago, and they reveal a pattern of evolution that is broadly consistent with predictions based on studies of living plants. Discovered in North America, Europe and Asia, they also illuminate the vegetational changes that transformed ancient dinosaur landscapes about 100 million years ago.
More problematic, and also more mysterious, is the remaining question - from which group of extinct seed plants did flowering plants arise? Recent discoveries in Mongolia and China, as well as Western North America, are beginning to shed some light on this question, but a completely satisfactory answer still remains beyond our grasp.