Extant diversity of bryophytes emerged from successive post-Mesozoic diversification bursts

B. Laenen (), B. Shaw, H. Schneider, B. Goffinet, E. Paradis, A. Désamoré, J. Heinrichs, J. C. Villarreal, S. R. Gradstein, S. F. McDaniel, D. G. Long, L. L. Forrest, M. L. Hollingsworth, B. Crandall-Stotler, E. C. Davis, J. Engel, M. Von Konrat, E. D. Cooper, J. Patiño, C. J. Cox, A. Vanderpoorten and A. J. Shaw
Additional contact information
B. Laenen: Institute of Botany, University of Liège
B. Shaw: Duke University
H. Schneider: Natural History Museum of London
B. Goffinet: University of Connecticut
E. Paradis: Institut des Sciences de l'Évolution, Université Montpellier 2—CNRS–IRD, Place Eugène Bataillon—CC 065
A. Désamoré: Institute of Botany, University of Liège
J. Heinrichs: Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (LMU)
J. C. Villarreal: Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (LMU)
S. R. Gradstein: Museum National d’ Histoire Naturelle
S. F. McDaniel: University of Florida
D. G. Long: Royal Botanical Garden Edinburgh, Edinburgh
L. L. Forrest: Royal Botanical Garden Edinburgh, Edinburgh
M. L. Hollingsworth: Royal Botanical Garden Edinburgh, Edinburgh
B. Crandall-Stotler: Southern Illinois University
E. C. Davis: University of Florida
J. Engel: Field Museum
M. Von Konrat: Field Museum
E. D. Cooper: University of Maryland, 2108 Biosciences Research Building, College Park, Maryland 20742, USA
J. Patiño: Institute of Botany, University of Liège
C. J. Cox: Centro de Cincias do Mar (CCMAR), Universidade do Algarve, Campus de Gambelas
A. Vanderpoorten: Institute of Botany, University of Liège
A. J. Shaw: Duke University

Nature Communications, 2014, vol. 5, issue 1, 1-6

Abstract: Abstract Unraveling the macroevolutionary history of bryophytes, which arose soon after the origin of land plants but exhibit substantially lower species richness than the more recently derived angiosperms, has been challenged by the scarce fossil record. Here we demonstrate that overall estimates of net species diversification are approximately half those reported in ferns and ∼30% those described for angiosperms. Nevertheless, statistical rate analyses on time-calibrated large-scale phylogenies reveal that mosses and liverworts underwent bursts of diversification since the mid-Mesozoic. The diversification rates further increase in specific lineages towards the Cenozoic to reach, in the most recently derived lineages, values that are comparable to those reported in angiosperms. This suggests that low diversification rates do not fully account for current patterns of bryophyte species richness, and we hypothesize that, as in gymnosperms, the low extant bryophyte species richness also results from massive extinctions.

Date: 2014
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DOI: 10.1038/ncomms6134

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