Patricia Gensel is a professor of biology at the University of North Carolina. She is the co-author of Plant Life in the Devonian.Dianne Edwards holds a chair in paleobotany in the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of Wales. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society and has been President of the Paleontological Association and editor of the Botanical Journal of the Linnaen Society.

This book focuses on our present day understanding of the fossil record of land plants and other organisms. Presents a detailed overview of the diversificaion of the plant kingdom... Very interesting book for students and researchers. Southeastern Naturalist This is an excellent volume that should be purchased not only by all geological libraries but also by anyone with an interest in the evolution of the biosphere-atmosphere system. -- Andrew C. Scott Geological Magazine This book contributes to our knowledge of the exciting story of the origin of plants on land, from an evolutionary and environmental perspective... recommended for advanced researchers in paleobotany and paleoecology of the age of plants invading land. -- Stanislav Mihulka Folia Geobotanica

• Contributors 1. Introduction, by Patricia G. Gensel 2. Embryophytes on Land: The Ordovician to Lochkovian (Lower Devonian) Record, by Dianne Edwards and Charles Wellman 3. Rustling in the Undergrowth: Animals in Early Terrestrial Ecosystems, by William A. Shear and Paul A. Selden 4. New Data on Nothia aphylla Lyon 1964 ex El-Saadawy et Lacey 1979, a Poorly Known Plant from the Lower Devonian Rynie Chert, by Hans Kerp, Hagen Hass, and Volker Mosbrugger 5. Morphology of Above- and Below-Ground Sturctures in Early Devonian (Pragian-Emsian) Plants, by Patricia G. Gensel, Michele E. Kotyk, and James F. Basinger 6. The Posongchong Floral Assemblages of Southeastern Yunnan, China--Diversity and Disparity in Early Devonian Plant Assemblages, by Hao Shou-Gang and Patricia G. Gensel 7. The Middle Devonian Flora Revisited, by Christopher M. Berry and Muriel Fairon-Demaret 8. The Origin, Morphology, and Ecophysiology of Early Embryophytes: Neontological and Paleontological Perspectives, by Linda E. Graham and Jane Gray 9. Biological Roles for Phenolic Compounds in the Evolution of Early Land Plants, by Gillian A. Cooper-Driver 10. The Effect of the Rise of Land Plants on Atmospheric CO2 During the Paleozoic, by Robert A. Berner 11. Early Terrestrial Plant Environments: An Example from the Emsian of Gaspe, Canada, by C. L. Hotton, F. M. Hueber, D. H. Griffing, and J. S. Bridge 12. Effects of the Middle to Late Devonian Spread of Vascular Land Plants on Weathering Regimes, Marine Biotas, and Global Climate, by Thomas J. Algeo, Stephen E. Scheckler, and J. Barry Maynard 13. Diversification of Siluro-Devonian Plant Traces in Paleosols and Influence on Estimates of Paleoatmospheric CO2 Levels, by Steven G. Driese and Claudia I. Mora References Index