State of the art and perspectives on neotropical fern and lycophyte systematics

Abstract

For ferns and lycophytes, the Neotropics is a hotspot of diversity (3000-4500 species), and second only to Southeastern Asia in richness and endemism. This paper presents the current state of knowledge on fern and lycophyte systematics in the Neotropics, and emphasizes sampling sufficiency and current taxonomic and phylogenetic knowledge. Plant systematics plays an important role in documenting diversity and geographic distribution patterns that are needed to understand relationships and evolutionary patterns, and a vital role in species conservation. Although in recent decades this field of science has undergone a revolution because of new approaches and techniques, data presented in this work shows that large gaps remain and there is still a long path towards fully understanding fern and lycophyte systematics in Neotropics. Approaches and how to choose areas that should be targeted in order to try to fulfill these knowledge gaps are discussed.

Developing integrative systematics in the informatics and genomic era, and calling for a global Biodiversity Cyberbank

“…For example, through metagenomic sampling in extreme or unusual habitats, Hug et al () discovered many new lineages and evolutionary radiations in the microbiome world. The biodiversity and systematics communities need to prioritize and continue to fund explorations of poorly explored regions, which include many biodiversity hotspot regions (Myers et al, ; Almeida & Salino, ), as well as taxon‐oriented field work for systematics.…”

A taxonomic and molecular survey of the pteridophytes of the Nectandra Cloud Forest Reserve, Costa Rica

“…Pteridophytes (i.e., ferns and lycophytes) are an important group of plants to study because many new species are still being discovered in the Neotropics [11] and they play important ecological roles in many ecosystems [12][13][14][15]. The pteridophytes of Costa Rica comprise c. 1,200 spp., accounting for one-quarter to one-third of the estimated richness of the Neotropics (c. 3,000 spp.…”

Systematics and evolution of lycophytes and ferns

“…In this context, the subsequent analyses defining spatial aspects of the threats to pteridophyte diversity will hopefully encourage pteridologists to examine changes in diversity focusing on both global threats (as in Brummitt et al, 2016) and local changes (Pouteau et al, 2016). Progress may not only require further inventories of fern and lycophyte diversity (see Almeida & Salino, 2016;Liu et al, 2016) but also the integration of different types of evidence to obtain reliable predictions based on understanding ecological-evolutionary processes (Kessler et al 2016), the impact of interactions (Pressel et al, 2016), and the role of reproductive biology (Bystriakova et al, 2014). We hope that this special issue will inspire pteridologists to consider their contributions to ongoing efforts to protect the diversity of these plants within established frameworks to conserve plant diversity (Corlett, 2016).…”

“…Diversity is also the focus of a critical review of our current understanding of fern and lycophyte systematics in the Neotropics (Almeida & Salino, ). Although this region has been intensively studied by many prominent pteridologists, including John Mickel, Robbin Moran, Alan Smith, and Rolla Tryon, major gaps in our knowledge remain (e.g., under‐sampled regions and lineages requiring taxonomic revisions).…”