Australia's 2019-2020 'Black Summer' bushfires burnt more than 8 million hectares of vegetation across the south-east of the continent, an event unprecedented in the last 200 years. Here we report ...the impacts of these fires on vascular plant species and communities. Using a map of the fires generated from remotely sensed hotspot data we show that, across 11 Australian bioregions, 17 major native vegetation groups were severely burnt, and up to 67-83% of globally significant rainforests and eucalypt forests and woodlands. Based on geocoded species occurrence data we estimate that >50% of known populations or ranges of 816 native vascular plant species were burnt during the fires, including more than 100 species with geographic ranges more than 500 km across. Habitat and fire response data show that most affected species are resilient to fire. However, the massive biogeographic, demographic and taxonomic breadth of impacts of the 2019-2020 fires may leave some ecosystems, particularly relictual Gondwanan rainforests, susceptible to regeneration failure and landscape-scale decline.
Premise
Bryophytes form a major component of terrestrial plant biomass, structuring ecological communities in all biomes. Our understanding of the evolutionary history of hornworts, liverworts, and ...mosses has been significantly reshaped by inferences from molecular data, which have highlighted extensive homoplasy in various traits and repeated bursts of diversification. However, the timing of key events in the phylogeny, patterns, and processes of diversification across bryophytes remain unclear.
Methods
Using the GoFlag probe set, we sequenced 405 exons representing 228 nuclear genes for 531 species from 52 of the 54 orders of bryophytes. We inferred the species phylogeny from gene tree analyses using concatenated and coalescence approaches, assessed gene conflict, and estimated the timing of divergences based on 29 fossil calibrations.
Results
The phylogeny resolves many relationships across the bryophytes, enabling us to resurrect five liverwort orders and recognize three more and propose 10 new orders of mosses. Most orders originated in the Jurassic and diversified in the Cretaceous or later. The phylogenomic data also highlight topological conflict in parts of the tree, suggesting complex processes of diversification that cannot be adequately captured in a single gene‐tree topology.
Conclusions
We sampled hundreds of loci across a broad phylogenetic spectrum spanning at least 450 Ma of evolution; these data resolved many of the critical nodes of the diversification of bryophytes. The data also highlight the need to explore the mechanisms underlying the phylogenetic ambiguity at specific nodes. The phylogenomic data provide an expandable framework toward reconstructing a comprehensive phylogeny of this important group of plants.
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FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SAZU, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
A working checklist of accepted taxa worldwide is vital in achieving the goal of developing an online flora of all known plants by 2020 as part of the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation. We here ...present the first-ever worldwide checklist for liverworts (Marchantiophyta) and hornworts (Anthocerotophyta) that includes 7486 species in 398 genera representing 92 families from the two phyla. The checklist has far reaching implications and applications, including providing a valuable tool for taxonomists and systematists, analyzing phytogeographic and diversity patterns, aiding in the assessment of floristic and taxonomic knowledge, and identifying geographical gaps in our understanding of the global liverwort and hornwort flora. The checklist is derived from a working data set centralizing nomenclature, taxonomy and geography on a global scale. Prior to this effort a lack of centralization has been a major impediment for the study and analysis of species richness, conservation and systematic research at both regional and global scales. The success of this checklist, initiated in 2008, has been underpinned by its community approach involving taxonomic specialists working towards a consensus on taxonomy, nomenclature and distribution.
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IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, UL, UM, UPUK
A re-examination of the original collection of Plagiothecium novae-seelandiae described by Brotherus in 1916 indicated that this material is not homogeneous. Re-examination of the diagnosis of this ...species and morphological analysis supports that two separate taxa should be distinguished – Plagiothecium novae-seelandiae var. novae-seelandiae and P. novae-seelandiae var. brotheri var. nov. Also, comparisons with the original collection of Hypnum lamprostachys (= P. lamprostachys ) showed differences, which supported their treatment as separate taxa. Revision of the genus Plagiothecium from Australasia (CANB, CHR, HO, MEL, WELT) and types of other species described from this part of the world ( P. funale and P. lucidum ) supported by the study of their diagnoses, qualitative and quantitative characteristics as well as mathematical analyses (PCA, HCA) allowed the division of the examined material into six separate groups – six separate taxa. Thereby, three distinct taxa are proposed – P. cordatum sp. nov. , P. semimortuum sp. nov. , and P. semimortuum var. macquariense var. nov. All taxa mentioned above are described in detail, their current known distribution and ecological preferences are also included. In addition, images illustrating their most important taxonomic features, as well as an original key to distinguish individual taxa are presented.
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•Comprehensive molecular phylogeny of the epiphytic thalloid liverwort Metzgeria.•Austrometzgeria is a member of Metzgeria.•The cosmopolitan morpho-species M. furcata and M. ...leptoneura are not monophyletic.•Metzgeria originated in Gondwana during the Cretaceous.•Epiphytic thalloid liverworts evolved between the Triassic and Cretaceous.
Among liverworts, the epiphytic lifestyle is not only present in leafy forms but also in thalloid liverworts, which so far has received little attention in evolutionary and biogeographical studies. Metzgeria, with about 107 species worldwide, is the only genus of thalloid liverworts that comprises true epiphytes. In the present study, we provide the first comprehensive molecular phylogeny, including estimated divergence times and ancestral ranges of this genus. Analyses are based on a plastid marker dataset representing about half of the Metzgeria species diversity. We show for the first time with molecular data that Austrometzgeria is indeed a member of Metzgeria and that two morpho-species M. furcata and M. leptoneura are not monophyletic, but rather represent geographically well-defined clades. Our analyses indicate that Metzgeria started to diversify in the Cretaceous in an area encompassing today’s South America and Australasia. Thus, Metzgeria is one of the few known epiphytic liverwort genera whose biogeographic history was directly shaped by Gondwana vicariance. Subsequent dispersal events in the Cenozoic resulted in the colonization of Asia, Africa, North America, and Europe and led to today’s worldwide distribution of its species. We also provide the first reliable stem age estimate for Metzgeria due to the inclusion of its sister taxon Vandiemenia in our dating analyses. Additionally, this stem age estimate of about 240 million years most likely marks the starting point of a transition from a terrestrial to an epiphytic lifestyle in thalloid liverworts of the Metzgeriales. We assume that the Cretaceous Terrestrial Revolution played a key role in the evolution of epiphytic thalloid liverworts similar to that known for leafy liverworts.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
Half a century since the creation of the International Association of Bryologists, we carried out a review to identify outstanding challenges and future perspectives in bryology. Specifically, we ...have identified 50 fundamental questions that are critical in advancing the discipline.
We have adapted a deep-rooted methodology of horizon scanning to identify key research foci. An initial pool of 258 questions was prepared by a multidisciplinary and international working group of 32 bryologists. A series of online surveys completed by a broader community of researchers in bryology, followed by quality-control steps implemented by the working group, were used to create a list of top-priority questions. This final list was restricted to 50 questions with a broad conceptual scope and answerable through realistic research approaches.
The top list of 50 fundamental questions was organised into four general topics: Bryophyte Biodiversity and Biogeography; Bryophyte Ecology, Physiology and Reproductive Biology; Bryophyte Conservation and Management; and Bryophyte Evolution and Systematics. These topics included 9, 19, 14 and 8 questions, respectively.
Although many of the research challenges identified are not newly conceived, our horizon-scanning exercise has established a significant foundation for future bryological research. We suggest analytical and conceptual strategies and novel developments for potential use in advancing the research agenda for bryology.
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BFBNIB, DOBA, GIS, IJS, IZUM, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
The hornwort
Anthoceros agrestis
is emerging as a model system for the study of symbiotic interactions and carbon fixation processes. It is an annual species with a remarkably small and compact ...genome. Single accessions of the plant have been shown to be related to the cosmopolitan perennial hornwort
Anthoceros punctatus
. We provide the first detailed insight into the evolutionary history of the two species. Due to the rather conserved nature of organellar loci, we sequenced multiple accessions in the
Anthoceros agrestis
–
A. punctatus
complex using three nuclear regions: the ribosomal spacer ITS2, and exon and intron regions from the single-copy coding genes
rbc
S and phytochrome. We used phylogenetic and dating analyses to uncover the relationships between these two taxa. Our analyses resolve a lineage of genetically near-uniform European
A. agrestis
accessions and two non-European
A. agrestis
lineages. In addition, the cosmopolitan species
Anthoceros punctatus
forms two lineages, one of mostly European accessions, and another from India. All studied European
A. agrestis
accessions have a single origin, radiated relatively recently (less than 1 million years ago), and are currently strictly associated with agroecosystem habitats.
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BFBNIB, DOBA, EMUNI, FIS, FZAB, GEOZS, GIS, IJS, IMTLJ, IZUM, KILJ, KISLJ, MFDPS, NLZOH, NMLJ, NUK, OBVAL, OILJ, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, SBMB, SBNM, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK, VKSCE, ZAGLJ
Abstract
A new genus Austroriella Cargill & Milne and species Austroriella salta Milne & Cargill within the family Riellaceae is described. Known only from the type location at the margins of a ...saline lake in Western Australia it is the first record and description of a terrestrial species within this typically aquatic family. Female plants are typical of the family with a single reduced wing bearing a row of archegonia; male plants are not typical and are naviculate in form enclosing several rows of enclosed antheridia not unlike the males of Sphaerocarpos. Unlike Sphaerocarpos this species does bear oil bodies. Differences and affinities are also outlined briefly with closely related genera within the order Sphaerocarpales.
Three new species of Anthoceros sect. Fusiformes are described, all occurring on the North West Slopes and Plains of New South Wales and all sharing spore characteristics of a smooth unornamented ...strip either side of the triradiate mark on the proximal face. Illustrations and a distribution map are provided for all species, along with a key to Australian Anthocerotaceae.
Although understanding the patterns of diversity is essential for conservation and environmental studies, an understanding of bryophyte distributions in Australia has been limited by the absence of ...continental-scale maps for patterns of bryophyte diversity. The aim of this study was to identify the patterns of species richness and endemism of hornworts, liverworts, and mosses in Australia. A database of 85 383 geo-referenced herbarium records was assembled and aggregated at a grid cell resolution of 0·5°. A one-cell radius neighbourhood analysis was applied to identify the spatial patterns of species richness and endemism. Primary centres of species richness were located on the east of the continent, with the highest number of species occurring in Queensland's Wet Tropics, the Border Ranges near the Queensland-New South Wales border, the central coast of New South Wales, southern Victoria, and Tasmania. Endemism scores were high in the Wet Tropics, but highly endemic regions were scattered across the continent but not found in arid regions. The spatial patterns of diversity differed among hornworts, liverworts, and mosses, and areas of endemism and species richness did not always overlap. Comparisons with other taxa additionally indicated that areas of bryophyte diversity do not correspond with groups that are currently used as proxies in conservation.
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BFBNIB, DOBA, GIS, IJS, IZUM, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
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