Search research articles

ABOUT JoVE

Overview Leadership Blog JoVE Help Center

AUTHORS

Publishing Process Editorial Board Scope & Policies Peer Review FAQ Submit

LIBRARIANS

Testimonials Subscriptions Access Resources Library Advisory Board FAQ

RESEARCH

JoVE Journal Methods Collections JoVE Encyclopedia of Experiments Archive

EDUCATION

JoVE Core JoVE Business JoVE Science Education JoVE Lab Manual Faculty Resource Center Faculty Site

Terms & Conditions of Use

Related Concept Videos

Non-vascular Seedless Plants

Non-vascular Seedless Plants

The diverse plant life on Earth—consisting of nearly 400,000 species—can be divided into three broad categories based on biological characteristics: nonvascular, seedless vascular, and seed plants.

Plant Tissues

Plant Tissues

Plants are multicellular eukaryotes with tissue systems made of various cell types that carry out specific functions. Different tissues work together to perform a unique function and form an organ. Organs working together form organ systems. Vascular plants have two distinct organ systems: a shoot system and a root system. The shoot system consists of two portions: the vegetative (non-reproductive) parts of the plant, such as the leaves and the stems, and the reproductive parts of the plant,...

Light Acquisition

Light Acquisition

In order to produce glucose, plants need to capture sufficient light energy. Many modern plants have evolved leaves specialized for light acquisition. Leaves can be only millimeters in width or tens of meters wide, depending on the environment. Due to competition for sunlight, evolution has driven the evolution of increasingly larger leaves and taller plants, to avoid shading by their neighbors with contaminant elaboration of root architecture and mechanisms to transport water and nutrients.

Morphogenesis

Morphogenesis

Plant morphogenesis—the development of a plant’s form and structure—involves several overlapping developmental processes, including growth and cell differentiation. Precursor cells differentiate into specific cell types, which are organized into the tissues and organ systems that make up the functional plant.

Introduction to Plant Diversity

Introduction to Plant Diversity

From Water to Land

Limits to Natural Selection

Limits to Natural Selection

Organisms that are well-adapted to their environment are more likely to survive and reproduce. However, natural selection does not lead to perfectly adapted organisms. Several factors constrain natural selection.For one, natural selection can only act upon existing genetic variation. Hypothetically, redtusks may enhance elephant survival by deterring ivory-seeking poachers. However, if there are no gene variants—or alleles—for redtusks, natural selection cannot increase the prevalence of...

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by

Same author

Biophysical Effects on the Scaling of Plant Growth, Form, and Ecology.

Integrative and comparative biology·2019

Same author

Simulation of organic shape: The roles of phenomenology and mechanism.

Journal of morphology·2018

Same author

THE SCALING OF PLANT AND ANIMAL BODY MASS, LENGTH, AND DIAMETER.

Evolution; international journal of organic evolution·2017

Same author

Darwin-Wallace Demons: survival of the fastest in populations of duckweeds and the evolutionary history of an enigmatic group of angiosperms.

Plant biology (Stuttgart, Germany)·2014

Same author

The effect of leaf-lobing on the interception of direct solar radiation.

Oecologia·2013

Same author

Ontogenetic changes in the scaling of cellular respiration with respect to size among sunflower seedlings.

Plant signaling & behavior·2011

Search research articles

Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jun 5, 2026

LeafJ: An ImageJ Plugin for Semi-automated Leaf Shape Measurement

LeafJ: An ImageJ Plugin for Semi-automated Leaf Shape Measurement

Published on: January 21, 2013

Evolution of plant shape: Design constraints.

¹Karl Niklas is at the Division of Biological Sciences, Section of Plant Biology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA.

Trends in Ecology & Evolution

|January 14, 2011

Summary

Engineering principles explain land plant evolution over 400 million years. Modern computer modeling of these principles offers insights into major morphological and anatomical changes during the Phanerozoic.

Area of Science:

Paleobotany
Evolutionary Biology
Biomechanics

Background:

The fossil record reveals extensive morphological and anatomical changes in land plants over 400 million years.
Understanding the driving forces behind these evolutionary shifts is crucial.

Purpose of the Study:

To interpret and predict land plant evolution using engineering principles.
To investigate the factors motivating morphological and anatomical changes during the Phanerozoic.

Main Methods:

Applying standard engineering principles (mechanical stability, hydraulics) to fossil evidence.
Utilizing modern computer technology to construct theoretically based hypotheses.
Comparing theoretical models with major evolutionary trends in land plants.

More Related Videos

Robotic Sensing and Stimuli Provision for Guided Plant Growth

Robotic Sensing and Stimuli Provision for Guided Plant Growth

Published on: July 1, 2019

Reconstructing Terrestrial Paleoclimate and Paleoecology with Fossil Leaves Using Digital Leaf Physiognomy and Leaf Mass Per Area

Reconstructing Terrestrial Paleoclimate and Paleoecology with Fossil Leaves Using Digital Leaf Physiognomy and Leaf Mass Per Area

Published on: October 25, 2024

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Jun 5, 2026

LeafJ: An ImageJ Plugin for Semi-automated Leaf Shape Measurement

LeafJ: An ImageJ Plugin for Semi-automated Leaf Shape Measurement

Published on: January 21, 2013

Robotic Sensing and Stimuli Provision for Guided Plant Growth

Robotic Sensing and Stimuli Provision for Guided Plant Growth

Published on: July 1, 2019

Reconstructing Terrestrial Paleoclimate and Paleoecology with Fossil Leaves Using Digital Leaf Physiognomy and Leaf Mass Per Area

Reconstructing Terrestrial Paleoclimate and Paleoecology with Fossil Leaves Using Digital Leaf Physiognomy and Leaf Mass Per Area

Published on: October 25, 2024

Main Results:

Engineering principles provide a framework for understanding plant form and function evolution.
Computer-based hypotheses align with observed evolutionary trends in land plants.
Insights gained into the selective pressures shaping plant evolution.

Conclusions:

Morphological and anatomical changes in land plants are often predictable using engineering principles.
Modern computational approaches can illuminate evolutionary pathways.
Engineering and evolutionary biology are interconnected in understanding plant diversification.