Magain N., C. Truong, T. Goward, D. Niu, B. Goffinet, E. Sérusiaux, O. Vitikainen, F. Lutzoni & J. Miadlikowska. 2018. Global species delimitation of Peltigera section Peltigera (lichenized Ascomycota, Lecanoromycetes) reveals high species richness with complex biogeographical history and symbiotic patterns of associations. Taxon 67: 836–870. pdf

Abstract reads: This comprehensive phylogenetic revision of sections Peltigera and Retifoveatae of the cyanolichen genus Peltigera is based on DNA sequences from more than 500 specimens from five continents. We amplified five loci (nrITS, β-tubulin and three intergenic spacers part of colinear orthologous regions [COR]) for the mycobiont, and the rbcLX locus for the cyanobacterial partner Nostoc. Phylogenetic inferences (RAxML, BEAST) and species delimitation methods (bGMYC, bPTP, bPP) suggest the presence of 88 species in section Peltigera, including 50 species new to science, hence uncovering a surprisingly high proportion of previously unnoticed biodiversity. The hypervariable region in ITS1 (ITS1-HR) is a powerful marker to identify species within sections Peltigera and Retifoveatae. Most newly delimited species are restricted to a single biogeographic region, however, up to ten species have a nearly cosmopolitan distribution. The specificity of mycobionts in their association with Nostoc cyanobionts ranges from strict specialists (associate with only one Nostoc phylogroup) to broad generalists (up to eight Nostoc phylogroups uncovered), with widespread species recruiting a broader selection of Nostoc phylogroups than species with limited distributions. In contrast, species from the P. didactyla clade characterized by small thalli and asexual vegetative propagules (soredia) associate with fewer Nostoc phylogroups (i.e., are more specialized) despite their broad distributions, and show significantly higher rates of nucleotide substitutions.

A short YouTube video about Omora Park featuring Lily Lewis, former EEB and Goffinet lab Ph.D. student.

Liu D., B. Goffinet, X. Wang, J.-S. Hur, M. Yang, H. Shi, Y. Zhang, C. An & L Wang. 2018. Another lineage of basidiolichen in China, with one new species and new record in the genera Dictyonemaand Lichenomphalia (Agaricales: Hygrophoraceae). Mycosystema 37: 849–864. pdf.

 

Abstract reads: Several specimens of basidiolichen belonging to the Hygrophoraceae were collected as part of the China lichen mycota. These belong to four species in two genera, Dictyonema and Lichenomphalia. Dictyonema yunnanum is described as new and Lichenomphalia velutina is newly recorded for Asia based on inferences from morphological, chemical and phylogenetic analysis. Dictyonema yunnanum is characterized by the dark aeruginous blue to black filamentous, ascending to erect, micro-fruticulose thallus. The species of lichenized Hygrophoraceae occurring in China are described and a key to distinguish them is presented.

Lily Lewis who earned her Ph.D. in EEB and was engaged the biocultural conservation course held annually on Navarino, Chile, published a study focused on Cultivating a garden of names.

Lewis L.R., C. Gottschalk Druschke, C. Saldías, R. Mackenzie, B. Goffinet & R. Rozzi. 2018. Cultivando un jardín de nombres en los bosques en miniature del Cabo de Hornos: extensión de la conservación biocultural y la ética a seres vivos poco percibidos (Cultivating a Garden of Names in the Miniature Forests of Cape Horn: an extension of biocultural conservation and ethics to under-perceived beings). Magallania 46: 103–123. pdf

 

The abstract reads (in Spanish first and English below!):

 Las briófitas (musgos, hepáticas y antocerotes) y los líquenes han sido subvalorados en los programas de conservación y educación ambiental, y por la cultura moderna en general. Tanto es así, que la mayoría de las briofitas y líquenes carecen de un nombre común. Aquí presentamos una nueva metodología y actividad para fomentar una comprensión ecológica de la biodiversidad, como también de la conservación y la ética biocultural, que incluya a seres vivos pequeños y poco percibidos; tales como las briófitas. Si algo no tiene nombre, entonces no existe en el ámbito cultural. Si algo se nombra, entonces sí existe en la esfera cultural; además, su existencia queda decisivamente influida por su nombre. En el extremo sur del continente americano, la Reserva de la Biosfera Cabo de Hornos de la UNESCO en Chile protege un “hotspot” o centro mundial de diversidad de briofitas. Aquí el equipo de investigación en el Parque Etnobotánico Omora ha desarrollado una innovadora actividad educativa y de ecoturismo para apreciar las briofitas: Cultivando un Jardín de Nombres. Esta actividad se ha desarrollado bajo la aproximación metodológica de la Filosofía Ambiental de Campo (FILAC), que anima a estudiantes y visitantes a observar y apreciar tanto biofísica como culturalmente (incluyendo la dimensión simbólico-lingüística) la existencia de las briófitas y líquenes, sus hábitos de vida y sus hábitats. Los participantes son invitados a observar, dibujar y crear nombres para las briofitas y líquenes utilizando: (i) una lupa de mano para amplificar las características biofísicas de las plantas pequeñas y (ii) los lentes conceptuales de la ética biocultural para amplificar la comprensión acerca de cómo interpretar y respetar el mundo natural. A través de esta actividad, los participantes se conectan a seres vivos que eran antes poco percibidos y comienzan a visualizar, valorar y cuidar una realidad biofísica y cultural que es diversa, hermosa, y cumple funciones ecológicas que son esenciales para la integridad de los ecosistemas y el bienestar humano. Cultivando un Jardín de Nombres promueve un cambio de perspectiva científica y ética para incluir a grupos de seres vivos poco percibidos en las metas de conservación y educación ambiental. 

 

Bryophytes (mosses, liverworts, and hornworts) and lichens have been undervalued in conservation and environmental education programs, and by modern culture in general. So much so, that most bryophytes and lichens lack a common name. We present a new methodology and activity to foster an ecological understanding of biodiversity, as well as of biocultural conservation and ethics, which includes little, under-perceived, living-beings –such as bryophytes. If something has no name, it does not exist in the cultural realm. If something is named, then it exists in the cultural sphere; additionally, its existence is decisively influenced by its name. At the southern end of the Americas, the UNESCO Cape Horn Biosphere Reserve in Chile protects a world’s biodiversity hotspot for bryophytes. Here, the research team at the Omora Ethnobotanical Park has developed an innovative educational and ecotourism activity to appreciate bryophytes: Cultivating a garden of names. This activity has been developed with the methodological approach of Field Environmental Philosophy. It encourages students and park’s visitors to engage physically as well as culturally (including the symbolic-linguistic dimension) with bryophytes and lichens, their life-habits and habitats. Park’s visitors are invited to observe, draw, and create names for bryophytes and lichens by using: (i) a magnifying glass or hand-lens to amplify the biophysical features of small plants, and (ii) the conceptual lenses of the biocultural ethics to broaden their understanding about how to interpret and respect the natural world. Through this activity, visitors connect to living beings that were previously under-perceived, and they come to see, value and care for a biophysical reality that is diverse, beautiful, and performs ecological functions that are essential to ecosystem integrity and human well-being. Cultivating a garden of names fosters a change of scientific and ethical perspectives to include little-perceived groups of organisms into the goals of conservation and environmental education. 

Laenen B, J. Patiño, A. Hagborg, A. Désamoré, J. Wang, A. J. Shaw, B. Goffinet & A. Vanderpoorten. 2018.  Evolutionary origin of the latitudinal diversity gradient in liverworts. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 127: 606–612. pdf.

Abstract reads: A latitudinal diversity gradient towards the tropics appears as one most recurrent patterns in ecology, but the mechanisms underlying this pattern remain an area of controversy. In angiosperms, the tropical conservatism hypothesis proposes that most groups originated in the tropics and are adapted to a tropical climatic regime, and that relatively few species have evolved physiological adaptations to cold, dry or unpredictable climates. This mechanism is, however, unlikely to apply across land plants, and in particular, to liverworts, a group of about 7500 species, whose ability to withstand cold much better than their tracheophyte counterparts is at odds with the tropical conservatism hypothesis. Molecular dating, diversification rate analyses and ancestral area reconstructions were employed to explore the evolutionary mechanisms that account for the latitudinal diversity gradient in liverworts. As opposed to angiosperms, tropical liverwort genera are not older than their extra-tropical counterparts (median stem age of tropical and extra-tropical liverwort genera of 24.35 ± 39.65 Ma and 39.57 ± 49.07 Ma, respectively), weakening the ‘time for speciation hypothesis’. Models of ancestral area reconstructions with equal migration rates between tropical and extra-tropical regions outperformed models with asymmetrical migration rates in either direction. The symmetry and intensity of migrations between tropical and extra-tropical regions suggested by the lack of resolution in ancestral area reconstructions towards the deepest nodes are at odds with the tropical niche conservatism hypothesis. In turn, tropical genera exhibited significantly higher net diversification rates than extra-tropical ones, suggesting that the observed latitudinal diversity gradient results from either higher extinction rates in extra-tropical lineages or higher speciation rates in the tropics. We discuss a series of experiments to help deciphering the underlying evolutionary mechanisms.

Click on this picture to listen to the podcast of Ricardo Rozzi, former EEB student, now professor at UNT and at the Universidad de Magallanes, telling the story of the motivation underlying the creation of the Cape Horn Biosphere Reserve, the bryophytes!

Simon A., J. Di Meglio, T. Goward, K. Dillman, T. Spribille & B. Goffinet. 2018. Sticta torii sp. nov., a remarkable lichen of high conservation priority from northwestern North America. Graphis Scripta 30: 105–114. pdf

Abstract reads: Sticta torii Simon & Goward sp. nov. is an isidiate lichen on Alnus, Malus and Picea branches in hypermaritime regions of northwestern North America. It is a rare species, currently known from only a few localities along a narrow longitudinal range in Southeast Alaska, British Columbia and Oregon. It differs from S. fuliginosa and S. sylvatica in its smaller, more irregular lobes and generally well-developed fringe of marginal isidia, and from S. beauvoisii in its smaller size, less elongate lobes and distinctly arbuscular to penicillate marginal isidia. Also diagnostic are the cyphellae, the basal portions of which bear cells with numerous papillae – a feature shared with a small group of closely allied neotropical species including the recently described S. arbuscula and S. arbusculotomentosa. These latter species, however, bear tomentum over the upper surface, unlike S. torii, which is glabrous.

The holotype is deposited in the CONN herbarium.

 

The National Science Foundation awarded today (May 30th, 2018) a grant to University of Connecticut (i.e., our lab!) for support of the project DEB-1753811 entitled “Collaborative research: Diversity of the moss Physcomitrium pyriforme: significance of autopolyploidy within a phylogenomic and experimental framework“.

Collaborators: Matthew Johnson (Texas Tech. University) and Rafael Medina (Augustana College, IL).

Overview: Whole genome duplication or autopolyploidy occurred repeatedly during the evolution of land plants and likely act as a major driver of evolutionary change. Such duplications first occurred within species, likely reproductively isolating autopolyploids. They may also trigger significant genomic restructuring, preventing meiotic pairing and hence interbreeding between two independent autodiploids. Genome duplications are thus effective mechanisms of microevolutionary change. They characterize many macroevolutionary lineages, and are expected to be frequent enough within species, for some to give rise to new evolutionary lineages. This  project seeks to test whether shifts in ploidy are phylogenetically structured within a complex of cryptic moss species, the Physcomitrium pyriforme complex. It harbors seven karyotypes worldwide and exhibits much morphological variation, as reflected by its 29 synonyms. These annual, bisexual and selfing mosses are easily grown, and genome doubling is readily induced in vitro from sporophytic tissue, enabling tests of reproductive isolation among wild and artificial autopolyploids. This project addresses four objectives toward assessing the evolutionary significance of autopolyploidy: (1) reconstruct the phylogeny of the complex based on sub genome data,(2) infer frequencies of ploidal shifts within the complex; (3) identify morphological signatures of artificial genome duplication and through comparison with wild populations test whether these erode through time; and (4) test if wild and artificial polyploids are reproductively isolated.

Widhelm T.J., F.R. Bertoletti, M.J. Asztalos, J.A. Mercado-Díaz, J.-P. Huang, B. Moncada, R. Lücking, N. Magain, E. Sérusiaux, B. Goffinet, N. Crouch, R. Mason-Gamer & H. T. Lumbsch. 2018. Oligocene origin and drivers of diversification in the genus Sticta (Lobariaceae, Ascomycota). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 126: 58–73. pdf

Abstract reads: A major challenge to evolutionary biologists is to understand how biodiversity is distributed through space and time and across the tree of life. Diversification of organisms is influenced by many factors that act at different times and geographic locations but it is still not clear which have a significant impact and how drivers interact. To study diversification, we chose the lichen genus Sticta, by sampling through most of the global range and producing a time tree. We estimate that Sticta originated about 30 million years ago, but biogoegraphic analysis was unclear in estimating the origin of the genus. Furthermore, we investigated the effect of dispersal ability finding that Sticta has a high dispersal rate, as collections from Hawaii showed that divergent lineages colonized the islands at least four times. Symbiont interactions were investigated using BiSSE to understand if green-algal or cyanobacterial symbiont interactions influenced diversification, only to find that the positive results were driven almost completely by Type I error. On the other hand, another BiSSE analysis found that an association with Andean tectonic activity increases the speciation rate of species.