Data from: Shifting functional roles and the evolution of conifer pollen-producing and seed-producing cones

Exploring patterns in the evolution of seed plant reproductive morphology
within a functional context offers a framework in which to identify and
evaluate factors that potentially drive reproductive evolution. Conifers
are a particularly useful group for studies of this kind because they have
a long geologic history and their reproductive organs are borne on
separate structures with discrete functions. Multivariate analysis of
morphological data collected from pollen-producing and seed-producing
cones of Paleozoic, Mesozoic, and extant conifer species shows that seed
cones underwent a significant expansion of morphological diversity that
began during the Early–Middle Jurassic and has continued into the present
day. In contrast, pollen cones show significantly lower levels of
morphological diversity and exhibit similar basic morphologies throughout
conifer evolutionary history. The increase in seed cone diversity through
time is primarily the result of two novel structural and organizational
features that evolved independently in different conifer families during
the Mesozoic: robust, tightly packed cones in members of Araucariaceae,
Cupressaceae sensu lato, and Pinaceae, and highly reduced, fleshy cones or
solitary seeds in Podocarpaceae, Taxaceae, and some members of
Cupressaceae sensu stricto. In extant conifers, these cone morphologies
are associated with species that have strong interactions with vertebrate
seed predators, seed dispersers, or a combination of both. This suggests
that increases in the strength and complexity of biotic interactions in
the Jurassic and Cretaceous were a primary driver of conifer reproductive
evolution, and that patterns of character evolution relate to the
increasing importance of cone tissue in seed protection and seed dispersal
through time.