Abstract Detail

Pteridological Section/AFS

Weststrand, Stina [1], Korall, Petra [1].

Selaginellaceae and its historical biogeography – how can the disjunct distributions seen today be explained?

Selaginellaceae, spikemosses, is a large family of lycophytes comprising approximately 700 species spread mainly across the tropics and subtropics. The family is interesting in many aspects, not the least since it has an origin in the Early Carboniferous (ca. 345 Ma), which makes it an important key for understanding the early evolution of vascular plants. In contrast to most other spore-dispersed plants, spikemosses are heterosporous. Thus, sperm and egg cells are produced by separate gametophytes that develop from micro- and megaspores, respectively. This may have implications for the plants’ ability to disperse, and studying dispersal and distribution patterns in Selaginellaceae can give us important contributions towards a broader understanding of plant dispersal biology.
In this study, we present the first large-scale phylogeny of Selaginellaceae. We have assembled a dataset of both plastid and nuclear markers for approximately 200 species of Selaginella, making up for almost one third of the species diversity known today. The resulting phylogeny gives us many new insights into the evolutionary history of Selaginellaceae, and in particular it helps us make hypotheses about the historical biogeography of the family. Are for example the disjunct distributions seen in Selaginellaceae the result of historical vicariance events or long-distance dispersals?

1 - Uppsala University, Systematic Biology, Evolutionary Biology Centre, Norbyvägen 18D, Uppsala, SE-75236, Sweden

Keywords:
Selaginellaceae
lycophyte
historical biogeography
long-distance dispersal
vicariance.

Presentation Type: Oral Paper:Papers for Sections
Session: 12
Location: Pines North/Boise Centre
Date: Monday, July 28th, 2014
Time: 1:30 PM
Number: 12001
Abstract ID:346
Candidate for Awards:Edgar T. Wherry award