Gene Mapes, Ph.D.

     Conifers are non-flowering seed plants that originated over 280 million years ago and are still dominant components today in many landscapes worldwide. The fossil record reveals that the earliest conifers were wind-pollinated, woody plants bearing ephemeral pollen cones and robust seed cones with anatomy and morphology very reminiscent of modern conifers.  Though conifers have been touted as examples of evolutionary stasis, the relative roles of phylogenetic evolution and similar adaptations to certain shared environmental stresses are not clearly understood. Are the conifers monophyletic, or are some or all coniferophytes polyphyletic?  To address such questions requires integrated biological and geological investigation.  Understanding the pattern and pace of coniferophyte evolution includes analysis of vegetative and reproductive biology, plant/animal interactions, biotic community associations, depositional environments, and taphonomy, in both marine and terrestrial ecosystems.

Selected References:

• Mapes, G. and G.W. Rothwell (1997) Primitive pollen cone structure in Upper Pennsylvanian (Stephanian) walchian conifers. Journal of Paleontology. (in press).

• Scott, A.C., J. Galtier, R.H. Mapes, and G. Mapes. (1997) Palaeoecological and evolutionary significance of anatomically preserved terrestrial plants in Upper Carboniferous marine goniatite bullions. Journal of the Geological Society, London 154:61-68.

• Mapes, R.H. and G. Mapes. (1997) Biotic destruction of terrestrial plant debris in the Late Paleozoic marine environment. Lethaia 29:157-169.

• Rothwell, G.W., G. Mapes, and R.H. Mapes (1997) Late Paleozoic conifers of North America: structure, diversity and occurrences. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology 95: 95-113.

• Rice, J., G.W. Rothwell, G. Mapes, and R.H. Mapes (1996) Suavitas imbricata gen. et sp. nov., an anatomically preserved seed analogue of putative lycophyte affinities from Upper Pennsylvanian marine deposits. American Journal of Botany 83(8):1083-1090.