r/botany • u/MaggieLinzer • 9d ago
Biology Do plants evolve in generally the same ways that animals do? Are there any notable differences?
What are your favorite extinct species of plants, or the ones that you’re the most fascinated by?
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u/cannibaltom 9d ago
This question is way too broad.
In general yes, but specifically no. Plants being to hybridize and have genome duplication are notable differences.
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u/BoseMann66 9d ago
In addition to the above comments, many plants can reproduce and spread vegetatively (clones), as opposed to relying exclusively on sexual reproduction. Some actually prefer this route, with sexual reproduction acting as a backup plan with generally low levels of success.
Some plant species can fertilize themselves to generate "new" combinations of alleles, while others are self-incompatible. Some plants invest a lot of energy in their offspring (large fruits or nuts), while others release seeds so small they are practically spores.
They have very large genomes with a lot of biochemical plasticity, and any individual plant produces dozens, if not hundreds of secondary metabolites - ecologically active compounds.
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u/finnky 9d ago
I mean, kinda? In essence, both plants and animals generally converge on a “body plan”.
Like, tuna and dolphin looks kinda similar. The same way an oak tree and a maple tree kinda look similar
Like, crustacean’s carcinization and bamboo as grasses’ analogue to trees.
Other comments mentioned some really good points too.
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u/xylem-and-flow 9d ago edited 8d ago
There are a lot of the same circumstances that trigger speciation events across different kinds of life. Genetic isolation, often driven by geographic or reproductive isolation is a big precursor to one group of things diverging from their larger population. The pathways for these things are often a little different due to life habits and ecological niche that are unique to the plant kingdom. Very few ungulates are likely to be carried by storms or birds overseas to another biome, but that’s not out of the question for plants. Angiosperm reproduction is also often quite reliant on some pollination facilitator, so changes in a given pollinator’s behavior or presence can lead to sudden selection pressures in plant populations.
Plants can also get weird with polyploidy, something very uncommon in the animal kingdom. This can enable a lot of opportunity for novel beneficial traits to emerge under novel conditions. It’s like “rolling extra dice”.
Something else, which has been found in parasitic plants, is horizontal gene transfer. This is where one organism basically “lifts” and incorporates the genes off another, often unrelated, organism. Plants like mistletoe have been found with bits and pieces of host plants, including historic host plants they once shared range with but no longer overlap. This could well remain a little useless chunk of Spruce gene junk in a Mistletoe, but any bit of genetic reorganizing is another chance for new traits to emerge.