Ep. 320 - The Prehistoric Path to Flowering Plants
In Defense of Plants Podcast
In Defense of Plants
4.8 • 1.3K Ratings
🗓️ 6 June 2021
⏱️ 51 minutes
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Summary
Resolving the origins of flowering plants requires an understanding of how their morphology came to be. After all, despite their rapid appearance in the fossil record, flowering plants did not evolve over night. There had to be transitional phases between what we recognize as a gymnosperm and what we recognize as an angiosperm and that is what this episode is all about. Sir Peter Crane of the Oak Spring Garden Foundation joins us to discuss some intriguing fossils that he and his colleagues hypothesize represent important steps in the early days of flowering plant evolution. This episode was produced in part by Karma, Shelby, Christopher, Alvin, Arek, Chellie, Dani, Paul, Dani, Tara, Elly, Colleen, Natalie, Nathan, Ario, Laura, Cari, Margaret, Mary, Connor, Nathan, Jan, Jerome, Brian, Azomonas, Ellie, University Greens, Joseph, Melody, Patricia, Matthew, Garrett, John, Ashley, Cathrine, Melvin, OrangeJulian, Porter, Jules, Griff, Joan, Megan, Marabeth, Les, Ali, Southside Plants, Keiko, Robert, Bryce, Wilma, Amanda, Helen, Mikey, Michelle, German, Joerg, Cathy, Tate, Steve, Kae, Carole, Mr. Keith Santner, Lynn, Aaron, Sara, Kenned, Brett, Jocelyn, Ethan, Sheryl, Runaway Goldfish, Ryan, Chris, Alana, Rachel, Joanna, Lori, Paul, Griff, Matthew, Bobby, Vaibhav, Steven, Joseph, Brandon, Liam, Hall, Jared, Brandon, Christina, Carly, Kazys, Stephen, Katherine, Mohsin Kazmi Takes Pictures, Manny, doeg, Daniel, Tim, Philip, Tim, Lisa, Brodie, Bendix, Irene, holly, Sara, and Margie.
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Transcript
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| 0:33.0 | Hello everyone and welcome to the Indefense of Plants podcast, the official podcast of Indefensive Plants.com. What's up? This is your host, Matt. Welcome to the show. How's everyone doing this week? Today, we're going to continue the seed discussion, but instead of looking purely at gymnosperms, we're looking at fossil evidence of what could very well be transitional fossils between gymnosperms and angiosperms. |
| 0:58.6 | Joining us to talk about this is Sir Peter Crane of the Oak Spring Garden Foundation. |
| 1:04.4 | Peter is a paleobotanist who, alongside a team of really talented scientists, |
| 1:09.3 | took an in-depth look at a series of plant fossils that have really important implications for the origin of angiosperms. |
| 1:12.2 | Now, of course, you will always hear the evolution of flowering plants referred to as Darwin's |
| 1:16.5 | abominable mystery, and indeed there is a lot of confusion and mystery surrounding this process. |
| 1:21.7 | Although they dominate the landscape today, that hasn't always been the case. |
| 1:25.2 | But you don't just get an angiosperm overnight. There had to be some |
| 1:28.5 | transitional phases in that evolution. And that's exactly what they are arguing these fossils represent. |
| 1:35.4 | Moreover, these fossil descriptions really forces us to not only go looking in new locations for |
| 1:39.8 | new fossil evidence, but also examine previous fossils in a whole new light. |
| 1:47.2 | I don't want to steal any more of his thunder, so let's just jump right into it. |
| 1:50.3 | Without further ado, here's my conversation with Sir Peter Crane. |
| 2:08.2 | I hope you enjoy. All right, Sir Peter Crane, it is an honor to have you on the podcast. |
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