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Flowering plants once drove a global shift in insect–plant–animal relationships and supported an increase in biodiversity, energy flux, and productivity throughout terrestrial ecosystems. We argue here that angiosperms could once again contribute to biodiversity within landscapes, if agroecosystems, and the plants within them, can be managed for multifunctional benefits. The potential for farmland to support biological diversity is understood and well-argued in the literature. We take this long-standing conversation and frame it within a longer evolutionary context, bringing attention to how modification in 2 key areas of our current food production system could support this goal. First, a move toward crop and grazing landscapes that more closely align with regional food webs can lead to observable improvements in community wildlife abundance. Second, we can re-expand the genetic base of our food, fodder, and cover crops, in particular by using crop wild relatives, through the use of wide crosses, genome-assisted selection, and participatory breeding. Agriculture as it is now widely practiced utilizes a narrow sliver of total angiosperm species diversity and within-species genetic diversity on a large amount of land. Change to this status quo requires coordination across tightly interlinked policy areas. It will also require social change. Farmers should be supported to transition through nudges throughout their social network. This necessitates a significant shift in our collective culture to value growing and consuming the flowering crops that can trigger an angiosperm revolution of the Anthropocene.
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The Angiosperm Terrestrial Revolution and the origins of modern biodiversity
Summary Biodiversity today has the unusual property that 85% of plant and animal species live on land rather than in the sea, and half of these live in tropical rainforests. An explosive boost to terrestrial diversity occurred fromc. 100–50 million years ago, the Late Cretaceous and early Palaeogene. During this interval, the Earth‐life system on land was reset, and the biosphere expanded to a new level of productivity, enhancing the capacity and species diversity of terrestrial environments. This boost in terrestrial biodiversity coincided with innovations in flowering plant biology and evolutionary ecology, including their flowers and efficiencies in reproduction; coevolution with animals, especially pollinators and herbivores; photosynthetic capacities; adaptability; and ability to modify habitats. The rise of angiosperms triggered a macroecological revolution on land and drove modern biodiversity in a secular, prolonged shift to new, high levels, a series of processes we name here the Angiosperm Terrestrial Revolution.
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- PAR ID:
- 10446133
- Publisher / Repository:
- Wiley-Blackwell
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- New Phytologist
- Volume:
- 233
- Issue:
- 5
- ISSN:
- 0028-646X
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- p. 2017-2035
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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