William Sarjeant Memorial Lecture, part of the Palaeobiology Seminar Series

USask Events

The William Sarjeant Memorial Lecture is a biennial lecture series in honour of former University of Saskatchewan Professor William "Bill" Sarjeant on the topic of paleontology or the history of science.

The William Sarjeant Memorial Lecture is a biennial lecture series in honour of former University of Saskatchewan Professor William "Bill" Sarjeant on the topic of paleontology or the history of science. The lecturer this year, presenting as part of the Paleobiology Lecture Series, is Dr. Conrad Labandeira from the Smithsonian Institution, winner of the 2022 Paleontological Society Medal. Dr. Labandeira will be giving a talk on his work on the interactions between fossil insects and plants entitled The Paleozoic to mid Mesozoic Evolution of Insect Pollination Modes and the Gymnosperm to Angiosperm Transition in Host Plants. His talk will examine how the co-evolution of insects and plants was affected by the transition from gymnosperm-dominated vegetation of the early Mesozoic to the rise of angiosperms (flowering plants) that are common in many ecosystems today.

Abstract: Insect pollination of seed plants (gymnosperms and angiosperms) has been a major feature of the terrestrial world and is an essential process for the maintenance of ecological communities. Indirect evidence suggests that insect pollination of extinct seed plants by small extinct insects with elongate proboscises began during the Permian Period, around 290 million years ago. During the subsequent Middle Jurassic to Early Cretaceous interval, from 160 to 100 million years ago, several distinctive modes of pollination were established by insect clades such as thrips, beetles, scorpionflies, lacewings, flies, and moths on host plants as varied as conifers, ginkgophytes, bennettitaleans, cycads, and probably caytonialeans. Toward the end of this time interval the earliest angiosperms, water lilies, became pollinated by insects. The transition from gymnosperm to angiosperm pollination is characterized by four ecological-evolutionary cohorts. First are pollinators with gymnosperm  hosts that became extinct upon the ecological emergence of angiosperms, such as zhangsolvid flies. Second are pollinators with gymnosperm hosts that were reduced in diversity but never transitioned onto angiosperm hosts, such melanthripid thrips. Third are pollinators with gymnosperm hosts that transitioned onto angiosperm hosts, such as short-winged flower beetles. Fourth, are pollinators that originated with angiosperm hosts that never had gymnosperm hosts in their history, such as bees.

 

Event Details

When:
Time:
01:00 PM - 02:00 PM CST
Location:
Geology 255