Preface. Tom A. Ranker and Christopher H. Haufler; Part I. Development and Morphogenesis: 1. Photoresponses in fern gametophytes Masamitsu Wada; 2. Alternation of generations Elizabeth Sheffield; 3. Meristem organization and organ diversity Ryoko Imaichi; Part II. Genetics and Reproduction: 4. Population genetics Tom A. Ranker and Jennifer M. O. Geiger; 5. Antheridiogen Jakob J. Schneller; 6. Genomic studies: chloroplast genome Paul G. Wolf and Jessie M. Roper; 7. Genomic studies: nuclear genome Takuya Nakazato, Michael S. Barker, Loren H. Rieseberg and Gerald J. Gastony; Part III. Ecology: 8. Phenology and habitat specificity of tropical ferns Klaus Mehltreter; 9. Gametophyte ecology Donald R. Farrar, Cynthia Dassler, James E. Watkins, Jr. and Chanda Skelton; 10. Conservation biology Naomi N. Arcand and Tom A. Ranker; 11. Ex situ conservation Valerie C. Pence; Part IV. Systematics and Evolutionary Biology: 12. Species and speciation Christopher H. Haufler; 13. Phylogeny and evolution of ferns: a paleontological perspective Gar W. Rothwell and Ruth A. Stockey; 14. Biodiversity, floristics, biogeography Robbin C. Moran; 15. Molecular phylogeny Eric Schuettpelz and Kathleen M. Pryer; 16. Phylogeny and classification Alan R. Smith, Kathleen M. Pryer, Eric Schuettpelz, Petra Korall, Harald Schneider and Paul G. Wolf.