Ferns diversified in the shadow of angiosperms

Harald Schneider, Eric Schuettpelz, Kathleen M. Pryer (), Raymond Cranfill, Susana Magallón and Richard Lupia
Additional contact information
Harald Schneider: Duke University
Eric Schuettpelz: Duke University
Kathleen M. Pryer: Duke University
Raymond Cranfill: University Herbarium, University of California
Susana Magallón: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Circuito Exterior, Anexo al Jardín Botánico
Richard Lupia: University of Oklahoma

Nature, 2004, vol. 428, issue 6982, 553-557

Abstract: Abstract The rise of angiosperms during the Cretaceous period is often portrayed as coincident with a dramatic drop in the diversity and abundance of many seed-free vascular plant lineages, including ferns1,2,3,4,5. This has led to the widespread belief that ferns, once a principal component of terrestrial ecosystems6, succumbed to the ecological predominance of angiosperms and are mostly evolutionary holdovers from the late Palaeozoic/early Mesozoic era. The first appearance of many modern fern genera in the early Tertiary fossil record implies another evolutionary scenario; that is, that the majority of living ferns resulted from a more recent diversification7,8,9,10. But a full understanding of trends in fern diversification and evolution using only palaeobotanical evidence is hindered by the poor taxonomic resolution of the fern fossil record in the Cretaceous11. Here we report divergence time estimates for ferns and angiosperms based on molecular data, with constraints from a reassessment of the fossil record. We show that polypod ferns (> 80% of living fern species) diversified in the Cretaceous, after angiosperms, suggesting perhaps an ecological opportunistic response to the diversification of angiosperms, as angiosperms came to dominate terrestrial ecosystems.

Date: 2004
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DOI: 10.1038/nature02361

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