Structural botany, being derived from plant anatomy, has been considered as an important branch of botany, both in concept and practice. In this paper, a review concerning the evolutionary trends of development from p...Structural botany, being derived from plant anatomy, has been considered as an important branch of botany, both in concept and practice. In this paper, a review concerning the evolutionary trends of development from plant developmental anatomy to plant developmental biology, plant comparative anatomy to plant systematic biology and plant ecological anatomy to plant environmental biology during the past 50 years in China is addressed and their potential development and usefulness in the near future were largely discussed.展开更多
We use the term 'basal birds' for a relatively small number of primitive fossil birds that fall outside the major clade Ornithothoraces,which includes both modern birds and enantiorni-thines. Eight genera and ...We use the term 'basal birds' for a relatively small number of primitive fossil birds that fall outside the major clade Ornithothoraces,which includes both modern birds and enantiorni-thines. Eight genera and twelve valid species have been reported from China in the last 15 years,whereas Archaeopteryx lithographica remains the only basal bird to have been described from non-Chinese specimens(although confuciusornithid material is apparently present in North Korea).Here we briefly review the Chinese basal birds and their anatomy,phylogeny and ecology.Chinese fossils have contributed extensively to scientific understanding of early avian evolution,demon-strating collectively that basal birds were generally relatively large and morphologically and eco-logically quite diverse.Although some significant uncertainties remain,particularly with respect to the relative phylogenetic positions of Jeholornis,Sapeornis and Zhongornis,an increasingly clear picture of the first stages of avian evolution is emerging from the Chinese fossil record.展开更多
文摘Structural botany, being derived from plant anatomy, has been considered as an important branch of botany, both in concept and practice. In this paper, a review concerning the evolutionary trends of development from plant developmental anatomy to plant developmental biology, plant comparative anatomy to plant systematic biology and plant ecological anatomy to plant environmental biology during the past 50 years in China is addressed and their potential development and usefulness in the near future were largely discussed.
基金supported by the Ministry of Science and Technology of Chinathe National Natural Science Foundation of China,and the Chinese Academy of Sciences
文摘We use the term 'basal birds' for a relatively small number of primitive fossil birds that fall outside the major clade Ornithothoraces,which includes both modern birds and enantiorni-thines. Eight genera and twelve valid species have been reported from China in the last 15 years,whereas Archaeopteryx lithographica remains the only basal bird to have been described from non-Chinese specimens(although confuciusornithid material is apparently present in North Korea).Here we briefly review the Chinese basal birds and their anatomy,phylogeny and ecology.Chinese fossils have contributed extensively to scientific understanding of early avian evolution,demon-strating collectively that basal birds were generally relatively large and morphologically and eco-logically quite diverse.Although some significant uncertainties remain,particularly with respect to the relative phylogenetic positions of Jeholornis,Sapeornis and Zhongornis,an increasingly clear picture of the first stages of avian evolution is emerging from the Chinese fossil record.
