Diversity and ecological adaptations in Palaeogene lichens

Kaasalainen, Ulla; Schmidt, Alexander R.; Rikkinen, Jouko

doi:10.1038/nplants.2017.49

Cited by 40 publications

(56 citation statements)

References 45 publications

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“…Our study suggests that the diversity of ferns in the Baltic amber forest was low and that at least epiphytic and climbing ferns were rare or even absent. This is generally in line with a recently suggested temperate origin of Baltic amber (Kaasalainen et al, ; Sadowski et al, ; Rikkinen & Schmidt, ).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

“…Following the latest reconstruction of the Baltic amber forest, it was a heterogeneous landscape with coastal swamps, bogs, lowland swamps, riparian forests, and mixed conifer‐angiosperm forest, intermingled by drier and light open patches (Sadowski et al, , , , ). The climate was most likely warm‐temperate to temperate and relatively humid (Kaasalainen et al, ; Sadowski et al, ; Rikkinen & Schmidt, ), so generally favoring terrestrial ferns but not epiphytic nor climbing ferns.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Baltic amber is famous for the excellent preservation of organismic inclusions and represents a favorable source of Paleogene cryptogam fossils, such as liverworts, mosses, fungi, and lichens (Kettunen et al, , , , ; Kaasalainen et al, ; Heinrichs et al, ). Despite the excellent potential for preservation, ferns have only rarely been reported as inclusions from Baltic amber.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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How diverse were ferns in the Baltic amber forest?

Sadowski

Seyfullah

Regalado³

et al. 2019

J of Sytematics Evolution

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Diverse temperate forest types and a high atmospheric humidity have recently been suggested for the Eocene source area of Baltic amber. However, ferns are astonishingly rare as inclusions in this amber, which is in contrast to other seed‐free land plants, fungi, and lichens. Moreover, the identities of some of the few described putative fern taxa are dubious, and some fossils were even assigned to the Paleozoic seed fern genera Alethopteris, Pecopteris and to the form genus Sphenopteris containing Paleozoic and Mesozoic fern‐like leaf fossils. Here, we review previously described fern inclusions from Baltic amber and identify further fern‐like leaf inclusions as belonging to the extant angiosperm genus Comptonia (sweet ferns, Myricaceae). We conclude that only one taxon, Matonia striata (Matoniaceae), can with confidence be identified as a Polypodiopsida representative. Although “Pecopteris” humboldtiana is so far only known as sterile foliage, its leaf morphology strongly suggests that also this taxon belongs to the Polypodiopsida rather than to any other tracheophyte lineage. We propose accommodating “Pecopteris” humboldtiana in the new genus Berendtiopteris. “Alethopteris” serrata and “Sphenopteris” phyllocladoides are not to be regarded as evidence of ferns from Baltic amber. Reinvestigation of the holotypes of these two taxa did not reveal to which tracheophyte lineages these fossils belong. We suggest that the scarcity of fern remains from Baltic amber may reflect both a relatively low fern diversity in the source area of the fossil resin, and an absence or rarity of epiphytic and climbing ferns as observed in modern temperate forest ecosystems.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

How diverse were ferns in the Baltic amber forest?

Sadowski

Seyfullah

Regalado³

et al. 2019

J of Sytematics Evolution

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“…The morphological adaptations observed in the fossil lichens also suggest that the forest was humid but at least partly well‐illuminated, and most probably temperate (Kaasalainen et al . ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Caspary's fungi from Baltic amber: historic specimens and new evidence

Kettunen

Sadowski

Seyfullah

et al. 2018

Papers in Palaeontology

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Amber is a valuable source of Mesozoic and Cenozoic fossil fungi. The earliest amber‐preserved fungi were described in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries from Eocene Baltic amber. In 1907, Richard Klebs summarized the legacy of Robert Caspary based on his specimens, research notes and publications. This treatise contains descriptions and illustrations of 13 morphologies of fossil fungi which have not been investigated since. We managed to locate six of Caspary's amber specimens and imaged and re‐investigated the fossil fungi within. We provide amended descriptions of these six specimens, select new specimens from historic and recent collections which are probably conspecific with five fossils that appear to have been lost, and finally also describe and evaluate five newly found fossil fungi from Baltic amber. The fungi belong to the phylum Ascomycota (Subkingdom Dikarya). Only two of Caspary's fungi can be confidently assigned to modern genera, Metacapnodium (Metacapnodiaceae) and Calicium (Caliciaceae). The new combination Calicium succini (Caspary) Rikkinen & A. R. Schmidt is made. The fossils originally placed in Acremonium, Cetraria, Gonatobotrys, Ramularia, Stilbum and Torula cannot be assigned to these genera, and should not be used as minimum age constrains for the respective lineages.

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“…The fossil record of Hypogymnioid lichens is relatively poor (Kaasalainen, Schmidt, & Rikkinen, ; Taylor, Krings, & Taylor, ). Therefore, we used molecular sequence data from extant taxa to infer the historical biogeography of the Hypogymnioid clade, which have been widely used to better understand biogeographic patterns in other clades of Parmeliaceae (Divakar et al., ; Leavitt et al., ; Wei et al., ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Parallel Miocene dispersal events explain the cosmopolitan distribution of the Hypogymnioid lichens

Divakar

Wei

McCune

et al. 2019

Journal of Biogeography

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Aim Contemporary species’ distributions are shaped by both geography and historical events, such as extinction, diversification in specific areas and long‐distance dispersals. In the most diverse family of lichen‐forming fungi, Parmeliaceae, the Hypogymnioid clade, is an example of an evolutionary lineage comprised of species occurring in temperate to subpolar regions in both hemispheres. Here, we elucidate the timing of diversification events and the impact of historical events on the species distribution in this lineage. Location Worldwide. Taxon Genera Arctoparmelia, Brodoa, Hypogymnia and Pseudevernia (Parmeliaceae). Methods Our sampling focused on the most diverse genus of the clade, Hypogymnia, including c. 70% of the described species. We reconstructed phylogenetic relationships using a multi‐locus data set, estimated divergence times, and inferred ancestral distributions. Results Our analyses suggest that the ancestor of the Hypogymnioid clade occurred in the Holarctic. In each of the four genera, all recovered as monophyletic here, diversification have occurred largely during the Miocene and Pliocene. A number of currently accepted species did not form monophyletic groups, especially in cases where specimens were collected from distinct geographic areas, with multiple, distinct clades corresponding to the geographic region of origin. Our results suggest that only a very few species in the Hypogymnioid clade have cosmopolitan distributions, all of which reproduces using vegetative propagules including both symbiotic partners. Main conclusions While the diversification occurred predominantly in the Northern Hemisphere during the Miocene, a long‐distance dispersal event from the Northern to the Southern Hemisphere, resulted in diversification of a clade of species largely restricted to the Southern Hemisphere. Similar to other groups in this diverse family, our study highlights the need for re‐evaluation of species boundaries among members of the Hypogymnioid clade.

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Diversity and ecological adaptations in Palaeogene lichens

Cited by 40 publications

References 45 publications

How diverse were ferns in the Baltic amber forest?

How diverse were ferns in the Baltic amber forest?

Caspary's fungi from Baltic amber: historic specimens and new evidence

Parallel Miocene dispersal events explain the cosmopolitan distribution of the Hypogymnioid lichens

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