How the Earth turned green : a brief 3.8-billion-year history of plants /

How the Earth turned green : a brief 3.8-billion-year history of plants /

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Bibliographic Details
Author / Creator:	Armstrong, Joseph E. (Joseph Everett), author.
Imprint:	Chicago ; London : University of Chicago Press, 2014.
Description:	1 online resource (578 pages) : illustrations
Language:	English
Subject:	Botany. Plants -- History. Botany. Plants. History.
Format:	E-Resource Book
URL for this record:	http://pi.lib.uchicago.edu/1001/cat/bib/11937882

Hidden Bibliographic Details
ISBN:	9780226069807 022606980X 9780226069630 9780226069777
Notes:	Includes bibliographical references and index. Print version record.
Summary:	This "amazing and wonderful book" explores the evolutionary history of photosynthesis in a grand story of how the world became the verdant place we know (Choice). On this blue planet, long before dinosaurs reigned, tiny green organisms populated the ancient oceans. Fossil and phylogenetic evidence suggests that chlorophyll, the green pigment responsible for coloring these organisms, has been in existence for some 85% of Earth's long history'that is, for roughly 3.5 billion years. In How the Earth Turned Green, Joseph E. Armstrong traces the history of these verdant organisms, which many would call plants, from their ancient beginnings to the diversity of green life that inhabits the Earth today. Using an evolutionary framework, How the Earth Turned Green addresses questions such as: Should all green organisms be considered plants' Why do these organisms look the way they do' How are they related to one another and to other chlorophyll-free organisms' How do they reproduce' How have they changed and diversified over time' And how has the presence of green organisms changed the Earth's ecosystems' With engaging prose and astonishing breadth, as well as informative diagrams and illustrations, How the Earth Turned Green demonstrates "how the Earth blossomed into such an incredible world that most of us simply take for granted" (San Francisco Book Review).
Other form:	Print version: Armstrong, Joseph E. How the Earth turned green : a brief 3.8-billion-year history of plants. Chicago : University of Chicago Press, 2014 9780226069630

Description
Summary:	On this blue planet, long before pterodactyls took to the skies and tyrannosaurs prowled the continents, tiny green organisms populated the ancient oceans. Fossil and phylogenetic evidence suggests that chlorophyll, the green pigment responsible for coloring these organisms, has been in existence for some 85% of Earth's long history--that is, for roughly 3.5 billion years. In How the Earth Turned Green, Joseph E. Armstrong traces the history of these verdant organisms, which many would call plants, from their ancient beginnings to the diversity of green life that inhabits the Earth today.<br> <br> Using an evolutionary framework, How the Earth Turned Green addresses questions such as: Should all green organisms be considered plants? Why do these organisms look the way they do? How are they related to one another and to other chlorophyll-free organisms? How do they reproduce? How have they changed and diversified over time? And how has the presence of green organisms changed the Earth's ecosystems? More engaging than a traditional textbook and displaying an astonishing breadth, How the Earth Turned Green will both delight and enlighten embryonic botanists and any student interested in the evolutionary history of plants.
Physical Description:	1 online resource (578 pages) : illustrations
Bibliography:	Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN:	9780226069807 022606980X 9780226069630 9780226069777