Leaf venation network evolution across clades and scales

Ilaine Silveira Matos; Bradley Vu; Joseph Mann; Emily Xie; Srinivasan Madhavan; Satvik Sharma; Izzi Niewiadomski; Andrea Echevarria; Connor Tomaka; Sonoma Carlos; Monica Antonio; Ashley Chu; Meg Scudder; Nicole Yokota; Hailey J. Park; Natalie Vuong; Mickey Boakye; Miguel A. Duarte; Caroline Pechuzal; Luiza Maria T. Aparecido; Mia B. Franco; Ryan Jen Wong; Jocelyn Liu; Emily Guevara Heredia; Brad Boyle; Martha Ryan; Rafael E. Cárdenas; Brian J. Enquist; Diane M. Erwin; Holly Forbes; Kyle Dexter; Mark Fricker; Benjamin W. Blonder

doi:10.1038/s41477-025-02011-y

Mia B. Franco, Ryan Jen Wong, Jocelyn Liu, Emily Guevara Heredia, Brad Boyle, Martha Ryan, Rafael E. Cárdenas, Brian J. Enquist, Diane M. Erwin, Holly Forbes, Kyle Dexter, Mark Fricker, Benjamin W. Blonder

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

Leaf venation architecture varies greatly among living and fossil plants.
However, we still have a limited understanding of when, why and in which
clades new architectures arose and how they impacted leaf functioning.
Using data from 1,000 extant and extinct (fossil) plants, we reconstructed
approximately 400 million years of venation evolution across clades and
vein sizes. Overall, venation networks evolved from having fewer veins
and less smooth loops to having more veins and smoother loops, but these
changes only occurred in small and medium vein sizes. The diversity of
architectural designs increased biphasically, first peaking in the Paleozoic,
then decreasing during the Cretaceous, then increasing again in the
Cenozoic, when recent angiosperm lineages initiated a second and ongoing
phase of diversification. Vein evolution was not associated with temperature
and CO2 fluctuations but was associated with insect diversification. Our
results highlight the complexity of the evolutionary trajectory and potential
drivers of venation network architecture.

Translated title of the contribution	Evolución de la red de venación de las hojas a través de clados y escalas
Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	1-15
Number of pages	15
Journal	Nature Plants
Volume	11
Issue number	6
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/s41477-025-02011-y
State	Published - 6 Jun 2025

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited 2025.

Funding

This study was supported by the US National Science Foundation (grant DEB-2025282, B.B.) with supplements from the Research Experience for Undergraduates, Research Experience for Post-Baccalaureate Students and Research Experience for Teachers programs, the University of California at Berkeley Sponsored Projects for Undergraduate Research program, and the UK Natural Environment Research Council (NE/M019160/1, M.F.). Ghana samples were collected under permit of the Forestry Research Institute of Ghana (FORIG, M.B.) at Kumasi, Ghana. Costa Rica samples were collected under permit ACOPAC-INV-RES-002-11, issued to B.B. by the Ministerio de Ambiente, Energ\u00EDa y Telecomunicaciones, \u00C1rea de Conservaci\u00F3n del Pac\u00EDfico Central. Ecuador samples were collected under Ministerio Del Ambiente permit 004-2019-IC-PNY-DPAO/AVS and exported under permit MAE-DPAO-2019-1275-O. Ecuador field sampling efforts were funded by CTFS ForestGeo grants program and the Arizona State University WAESO program, which funded the undergraduate research technicians that processed the Ecuador leaf samples. We acknowledge P. Wilf for organizing and publishing a large image database of extant cleared and fossil leaves and thank him for providing useful feedback on a first draft of this paper. We thank S. Castiglione and P. Raia for providing input on RRphylo, and S. Rifai for providing computational support for the bootstrapping analysis. We are grateful to all staff of the UCBG at Berkeley for the logistical support, especially to the horticulturists E. Fenner, E. Hupperts, J. Fong, N. Gapsis, G. Dollarhide, S. Warsh, J. Bonham and C. Rieder, who helped us with sample collection.

Funders	Funder number
University of California Berkeley
Arizona State University
CTFS
National Science Foundation	DEB-2025282
Natural Environment Research Council	NE/M019160/1

Access to Document

10.1038/s41477-025-02011-y

Cite this

Matos, I. S., Vu, B., Mann, J., Xie, E., Madhavan, S., Sharma, S., Niewiadomski, I., Echevarria, A., Tomaka, C., Carlos, S., Antonio, M., Chu, A., Scudder, M., Yokota, N., Park, H. J., Vuong, N., Boakye, M., Duarte, M. A., Pechuzal, C., ... Blonder, B. W. (2025). Leaf venation network evolution across clades and scales. Nature Plants, 11(6), 1-15. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41477-025-02011-y

@article{782fe35049964f5b84ff539e9d868d27,

title = "Leaf venation network evolution across clades and scales",

abstract = "Leaf venation architecture varies greatly among living and fossil plants. However, we still have a limited understanding of when, why and in which clades new architectures arose and how they impacted leaf functioning. Using data from 1,000 extant and extinct (fossil) plants, we reconstructed approximately 400 million years of venation evolution across clades and vein sizes. Overall, venation networks evolved from having fewer veins and less smooth loops to having more veins and smoother loops, but these changes only occurred in small and medium vein sizes. The diversity of architectural designs increased biphasically, first peaking in the Paleozoic, then decreasing during the Cretaceous, then increasing again in the Cenozoic, when recent angiosperm lineages initiated a second and ongoing phase of diversification. Vein evolution was not associated with temperature and CO2 fluctuations but was associated with insect diversification. Our results highlight the complexity of the evolutionary trajectory and potential drivers of venation network architecture.",

author = "Matos, \{Ilaine Silveira\} and Bradley Vu and Joseph Mann and Emily Xie and Srinivasan Madhavan and Satvik Sharma and Izzi Niewiadomski and Andrea Echevarria and Connor Tomaka and Sonoma Carlos and Monica Antonio and Ashley Chu and Meg Scudder and Nicole Yokota and Park, \{Hailey J.\} and Natalie Vuong and Mickey Boakye and Duarte, \{Miguel A.\} and Caroline Pechuzal and Aparecido, \{Luiza Maria T.\} and Franco, \{Mia B.\} and Wong, \{Ryan Jen\} and Jocelyn Liu and \{Guevara Heredia\}, Emily and Brad Boyle and Martha Ryan and C{\'a}rdenas, \{Rafael E.\} and Enquist, \{Brian J.\} and Erwin, \{Diane M.\} and Holly Forbes and Kyle Dexter and Mark Fricker and Blonder, \{Benjamin W.\}",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited 2025.",

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doi = "10.1038/s41477-025-02011-y",

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Matos, IS, Vu, B, Mann, J, Xie, E, Madhavan, S, Sharma, S, Niewiadomski, I, Echevarria, A, Tomaka, C, Carlos, S, Antonio, M, Chu, A, Scudder, M, Yokota, N, Park, HJ, Vuong, N, Boakye, M, Duarte, MA, Pechuzal, C, Aparecido, LMT, Franco, MB, Wong, RJ, Liu, J, Guevara Heredia, E, Boyle, B, Ryan, M, Cárdenas, RE, Enquist, BJ, Erwin, DM, Forbes, H, Dexter, K, Fricker, M & Blonder, BW 2025, 'Leaf venation network evolution across clades and scales', Nature Plants, vol. 11, no. 6, pp. 1-15. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41477-025-02011-y

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AU - Matos, Ilaine Silveira

AU - Vu, Bradley

AU - Mann, Joseph

AU - Xie, Emily

AU - Madhavan, Srinivasan

AU - Sharma, Satvik

AU - Niewiadomski, Izzi

AU - Echevarria, Andrea

AU - Tomaka, Connor

AU - Carlos, Sonoma

AU - Antonio, Monica

AU - Chu, Ashley

AU - Scudder, Meg

AU - Yokota, Nicole

AU - Park, Hailey J.

AU - Vuong, Natalie

AU - Boakye, Mickey

AU - Duarte, Miguel A.

AU - Pechuzal, Caroline

AU - Aparecido, Luiza Maria T.

AU - Franco, Mia B.

AU - Wong, Ryan Jen

AU - Liu, Jocelyn

AU - Guevara Heredia, Emily

AU - Boyle, Brad

AU - Ryan, Martha

AU - Cárdenas, Rafael E.

AU - Enquist, Brian J.

AU - Erwin, Diane M.

AU - Forbes, Holly

AU - Dexter, Kyle

AU - Fricker, Mark

AU - Blonder, Benjamin W.

PY - 2025/6/6

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N2 - Leaf venation architecture varies greatly among living and fossil plants. However, we still have a limited understanding of when, why and in which clades new architectures arose and how they impacted leaf functioning. Using data from 1,000 extant and extinct (fossil) plants, we reconstructed approximately 400 million years of venation evolution across clades and vein sizes. Overall, venation networks evolved from having fewer veins and less smooth loops to having more veins and smoother loops, but these changes only occurred in small and medium vein sizes. The diversity of architectural designs increased biphasically, first peaking in the Paleozoic, then decreasing during the Cretaceous, then increasing again in the Cenozoic, when recent angiosperm lineages initiated a second and ongoing phase of diversification. Vein evolution was not associated with temperature and CO2 fluctuations but was associated with insect diversification. Our results highlight the complexity of the evolutionary trajectory and potential drivers of venation network architecture.

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