Simpson, Michael G.
Dr. Michael G. Simpson has been a professor of Biology at San Diego State University since 1986. His area of expertise is plant systematics, dealing with the description, identification, naming and classification of plants with the overriding goal of inferring the pattern of evolutionary history (phylogeny). Dr. Simpson has taught courses in Principles of Organismal Biology, Plant Systematics, Taxonomy of California Plants, Economic Botany, Genetics and Evolution, and Seminar in Systematics and Evolution. Additionally, he serves as the Curator of the SDSU Herbarium where he oversees the maintenance, organization, and use of the collection and facilitates additions to the herbarium. Currently, his field work in Chile and Argentina is supported in part by the National Geographic Society.

In addition to publishing numerous articles in technical journals, Dr. Simpson has authored of the widely used textbook Plant Systematics (Elsevier-Academic Press, 2006; 2nd ed. 2010.)

Plant Systematics has made a substantial contribution to plant systematics courses at the upper-undergraduate and first year graduate level. This 2e continues to provide the basis for teaching an introduction to the morphology, evolution, and classification of land plants. A foundation of the approach, methods, research goals, evidence, and terminology of plant systematics are presented along with the most recent knowledge of evolutionary relationships of plants and practical information vital to the field. In this 2e, the author includes greatly expanded treatments of families of lycophytes, ferns, gymnosperms, and flowering plants (all with full-color plates), a new chapter on species concepts and the role of systematics in conservation biology, and a new appendix summarizing basic statistical and morphometric techniques used in plant systematics studies. An explanation of maximum likelihood and Bayesian inference algorithms is included in methods of phylogenetic inference, and chapters on morphology and plant nomenclature have been augmented with new material.

UNIT I SYSTEMATICS 1. Plant Systematics: an Overview 2. Phylogenetic Systematics

UNIT II EVOLUTION AND DIVERSITY OF PLANTS 3. Evolution and Diversity of Green and Land Plants 4. Evolution and Diversity of Vascular Plants  5. Evolution and Diversity of Woody and Seed Plants  6. Evolution of Flowering Plants 7. Diversity and Classification of Flowering Plants: Amborellales, Nymphaeales, Austrobaileyales, Magnoliids, Ceratophyllales, and Monocots 8. Diversity and Classification of Flowering Plants: Eudicots

UNIT III SYSTEMATIC EVIDENCE AND DESCRIPTIVE TERMINOLOGY 9. Plant Morphology 10. Plant Anatomy and Physiology 11. Plant Embryology 12. Palynology 13. Plant Reproductive Biology 14. Plant Molecular Systematics

UNIT IV RESOURCES IN PLANT SYSTEMATICS 15. Plant Identification 16. Plant Nomenclature 17. Plant Collecting and Documentation  18. Herbaria and Data Information Systems

UNIT V SPECIES CONCEPTS AND CONSERVATION BIOLOGY 19. Species and Conservation in Systematics

Appendix 1. Plant Description 2. Botanical Illustrations 3. Scientific Journals in Plant Systematics 4. Statistics and Morphometrics in Plant Systematics

Plant Systematics, Second Edition, provides the basis for teaching an introduction to the morphology, evolution, and classification of land plants.

It presents a foundation of the approach, methods, research goals, evidence, and terminology of plant systematics, along with the most recent knowledge of evolutionary relationships of plants and practical information vital to the field. This updated edition has been expanded to include 15 fern families, 9 gymnosperm families, and increased angiosperm family treatments from 100 to 129. Each family description includes a plate of full color photographs, illustrating exemplars of the group along with dissected and labeled material to show diagnostic features.

The book includes a new chapter on species concepts and the role and impact of plant systematics in conservation biology, and a new appendix on statistical and morphometric techniques in plant systematics. It also contains more detailed explanations of maximum likelihood and Bayesian phylogeny inference methods, an expanded coverage and glossary of morphological terms, and an updated chapter on botanical nomenclature.

This book is recommended for graduate and undergraduate students in botany, plant taxonomy, plant systematics, plant pathology, plant anatomy, and ecology as well as scientists and researchers in any of the plant sciences.

The second edition of Plant Systematics has been expanded to include:

• Fifteen fern families, 9 gymnosperm families, and an increase of angiosperm family treatments from 100 to 129. Each family description includes a plate of full color photographs, illustrating exemplars of the group along with dissected and labeled material to show diagnostic features
• A new chapter on species concepts and the role and impact of plant systematics in conservation biology
• A new appendix on statistical and morphometric techniques in plant systematics
• In addition, the second edition contains more detailed explanations of maximum likelihood and Bayesian phylogeny inference methods, an expanded coverage and glossary of morphological terms, and an updated chapter on botanical nomenclature