Friday, 15 November 2013

Podocarpaceae

With fruit being carried hundred of metres away, lone trees are emerging which may never be able to reproduce and are therefore wasted effort.  As the seed must be grown on the female plant, it's up to the male to find a better technique to bridge the gap by sending its pollen further.

Adaptations emerge which are advantageous, and spread throughout the population.

The female cone has already become so highly adapted that it is hardly recognisable as a cone.  Now it is the male's turn.  Cones become longer, thinner and lighter, more able to wave in the wind and throw their pollen rather than simple drop it.  In effect, in an example of convergent evolution (where two or more species solve similar problems in similar ways, but using entirely different genes), the cone has become almost indistinguishable from a catkin.

Pollen grains become smaller and smaller, till they are as light as possible.  At the same time, they develop slight ridges along the sides which will help them catch the wind and spread further, hopefully encountering a female plant.

Reproduction is now possible over greater distances, and your species longevity is assured.  A conifer ('cone bearing') tree which no longer bears recognisable cones on either of its sexes!

That's as far as you can evolve here!  
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