BOTANY VOLUME 3 - EVOLUTION AND SYSTEMATICS - 2007

Scientific Editor's Foreword

In life science curricula, plant systematics is traditionally understood as the Description of the characters of higher-rank taxa (no lower than genus), which in fact equates to describing biodiversity. It is worth noting that zoological textbooks do not usually feature the word "systematics" in their titles, being named instead "Vertebrate Zoology", "Invertebrate Zoology", "Entomology", and so forth. Of course, it is not a matter of titles, but rather that The Scope of systematics is not limited to Classification. In addition to describing taxa—which is its primary task—systematics must include sections that can be grouped under the heading of "theoretical systematics". This gap in the domestic botanical literature was recently filled to some extent by R. V. Kamelin's book "Lectures on Plant Systematics" (2004), which is an adaptation of his lecture course. Although some of the issues addressed by R. V. Kamelin and E. Strasburger in their respective books are inevitably shared (such as systematics and phylogeny), their approaches and source Materials differ significantly. In any case, there is hardly any need to reiterate that "theoretical systematics" is so multifaceted that every new publication is a welcome addition.

The textbook "Botany" presented here successfully combines both major branches of systematics: the description of biodiversity and theoretical aspects. Among the latter, one can highlight the description of numerical Taxonomy (phenetics) and the principles of cladistics, which has been rapidly developing in our country, especially over the last three decades. The textbook pays considerable attention to approaches for determining the monophyly of taxa. It also addresses the issue of recognizing (or rejecting) paraphyletic groups, a topic of active debate in contemporary science.

Evolution is presented in a separate chapter. It primarily covers the GENETIC ASPECTS OF systematics, mechanisms of variation, various Selection/21.html">Types of Mutations and recombinations, and introduces The concepts of Gene flow and Genetic Drift. All of this leads to the problems of speciation, which is also discussed in the textbook. However, certain concepts, such as peripatric and parapatric speciation, are less commonly used among domestic biologists. Justifiable emphasis is placed on Hybridization and, ultimately, allopolyploidy. Structure/19.html">The Importance of this section for those seeking an in-depth understanding of plant systematics cannot be overstated.

The sections of the "Evolution" chapter and the theoretical sections of the "Systematics" chapter are so closely intertwined that they could well be combined under a "General Part" heading, preceding the "Special Part"—the description of taxa.

A few remarks regarding the "Special Part" of the textbook. The arrangement of taxa is traditional: Bacteria—Fungi—Algae—bryophytes—pteridophytes—gymnosperms—angiosperms. As a rule, taxa are treated down to the rank of orders (and families in the case of angiosperms). The descriptions are, of necessity, highly concise, yet they include the number of genera and species in each family, as well as their geographical distribution, which overall makes the taxonomic descriptions precise and informative. The Systematics of Angiosperms is structured in accordance with the well-known Phylogenetic Tree based on molecular genetic data (Chase et al., 1993). This reflects the currently most widely accepted view of Amborella as an ancestral flowering plant and Acorus as a monocot sister to all other monocots. It is worth noting that the authors of the 35th edition of the "Botany" textbook are thoroughly familiar with contemporary scientific literature. This impression is reinforced when reviewing the most diverse groups. Of course, with such a vast array of taxa and characters, some inaccuracies and even errors are unavoidable. Furthermore, in cases where The Nature of certain Organs can be interpreted in different ways (for example, the flower and embryo of grasses), the author is entitled to adhere to his own concept, even if it is shared by only a few.

In Conclusion, it should be noted that E. Strasburger's classic textbook has always enjoyed high prestige among our botanical community, which has welcomed each of its editions with great interest. There is no doubt that the Translation of this book into Russian will significantly expand its readership.

Doctor of Biological Sciences, Professor A. G. Elenevsky

The Diversity of organisms, both past and present, arose through The process of evolution. Therefore, systematics attempts to arrange these organisms according to their presumed relationships and represent them as a phylogenetic tree (dendrogram). Although systematists utilize all observable characters of organisms, particular emphasis is currently placed on the analysis of DNA sequence data. This is illustrated by an example. Sequencing specific genes in the DNA of various poppies (Papaver) and related genera (Meconopsis, Roemeria, Stylomecon) allows for the construction of the phylogenetic tree shown in the figure.

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