André Sotiaux

When morphology and molecules tell us different stories: a case-in- point with Leptodon corsicus, a new and unique endemic moss species from Corsica

Abstract Leptodon corsicus (Neckeraceae) is described as the first endemic moss species from Corsica. It strikingly differs from the other species of the genus by the lack of a dense and pinnate to bipinnate mode of branching; about 10 times smaller shoots that do not inroll upon drying; the lack of paraphyllia; and few, occasional small pseudoparaphyllia. Due to its small size and several leaf characters, L. corsicus shares at first glance more similarities with Homalia webbiana and Neckera besseri than with Leptodon. Yet, phylogenetic analysis of chloroplast and nuclear DNA sequences unambiguously shows that L. corsicus is deeply nested within L. smithii. The numerous morphological characters that distinguish L. corsicus from L. smithii cannot be attributed to plasticity. Consequently, we interpret the phylogenetic position of L. corsicus as the result of a recent speciation process, involving mutations at one or a few coding loci or differences in gene expression, which have tremendous consequences for phenotypic appearance, and retention of ancestral polymorphism in the non-coding sequences used for phylogenetic reconstruction. Such an explanation might also apply to other species of mosses, which exhibit a striking morphology, and yet share identical non-coding sequences with the common species they derive from. The notion of species in mosses is discussed in this context.

New national and regional bryophyte records, 26

26 L T Ellis, H Bednarek-Ochyra, R Ochyra, Silvia Calvo Aranda, Maria T Colotti, Maria M Schiavone, Michail V Dulin, P Erzberger, Tulay Ezer, Recep Kara, Rosalina Gabriel, Lars Hedenas, David T Holyoak, P Odor, B Papp, M Sabovljevic, R D Seppelt, V R Smith, Andre Sotiaux, E Szurdoki, Alain Vanderpoorten, J van Rooy, J Żarnowiec Department of Botany, The Natural History Museum, UK, Laboratory of Bryology, Institute of Botany, Polish Academy of Sciences, Krakow, Poland, 3 Departamento de Biodiversidad y Biologia Evolutiva, Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales, Madrid, Spain, Facultad de Ciencias Naturales e IML, San Miguel de Tucuman, Argentina, Institute of Biology Komi Science Centre UB RAS, Syktyvkar, Komi Republic, Russia, Belziger Str. 37, D-10823 Berlin, Germany, Faculty of Science and Arts, Department of Biology, Nigde University, Turkey, Departamento de Ciencias Agrarias, Universidade dos Acores, Angra do Heroismo, Portugal, Department of Cryptogamic Botany, Swedish Museum of Natural History, Stockholm, Sweden, Quinta da Cachopa, Barcoila, Cabecudo, Portugal, Department of Plant Taxonomy and Ecology, Lorand Eotvos University, Budapest, Hungary, Botanical Department, Hungarian Natural History Museum, Budapest, Hungary, Institute of Botany and Botanical Garden, Faculty of Biology, University of Belgrade, Serbia, Australian Antarctic Division, Channel Highway, Kingston, Tasmania, Australia, Department of Botany, University of Stellenbosch, Matieland, South Africa, National Botanic Garden of Belgium, Domein van Bouchout, Meise, Belgium, Hungarian Natural History Museum, Budapest, Hungary, University of Liege, Institute of Botany, Belgium, National Herbarium, South African National Biodiversity Institute, Pretoria, South Africa, Department of Ecology and Nature Conservation, Institute of Environmental Protection and Engineering, University of Bielsko-Biala, Poland

A checklist of the bryophytes of Corsica (France): new records and a review of the literature

Abstract Based on a thorough review of the literature as well as floristic surveys undertaken over 20 years, a checklist of the bryophytes of Corsica, a mountainous western Mediterranean island, is presented. The occurrence of 17 liverwort and 44 moss species is documented for the first time from Corsica. As a result, the Corsican bryoflora includes 540 species: 148 liverworts, three hornworts and 389 mosses. Among the species reported, seven liverwort and 17 moss species are red-listed in Europe. By contrast with angiosperms, no bryophyte is endemic to the island based on traditional, phenetic species concepts. The number of new species reported here indicates that Corsica is exceedingly under-recorded bryologically. A better knowledge of the distribution, frequency and ecology of bryophyte species on the island is thus an absolute prerequisite in order to propose appropriate conservation measures in this Mediterranean environment that is, at least locally, severely threatened.

The status of the mid-western European endemic moss, Brachythecium appleyardiae

Abstract An analysis of DNA sequences in the ITS region of nrDNA and the atpB-rbcL intergenic spacer has placed Brachythecium appleyardiae McAdam & A.J.E.Sm. within a strongly supported clade in the genus Scleropodium. This position is consistent with the morphology and growth-form of B. appleyardiae. Specimens of the latter are similar to S. cespitans (Wilson ex Müll. Hal.) L.F. Koch but appear to differ in their narrower leaf-shape and the tendency to occur on dry rock ledges. However, measurements of a range of specimens from Britain and Ireland show that there is no clear discontinuity between the two taxa. Consequently, B. appleyardiae is reduced to synonymy with S. cespitans.

New national and regional bryophyte records, 14

Journal of Japanese Botany 24: 133–139. Seki T. 1968. A revision of the family Sematophyllaceae of Japan with special reference to a statistical demarcation of the family. Journal of Science of the Hiroshima University, Ser. B, Div. 2 12: 1–80. Sharp AJ, Crum H, Eckel PM. 1994. The moss flora of Mexico. Part Two. Memoirs of the New York Botanical Garden 69: 581–1113. Tan BC, Jia Y. 1999. A preliminary revision of Chinese Sematophyllaceae. Journal of the Hattori Botanical Laboratory 86: 1–70. Tsubota H, Akiyama H, Yamaguchi T, Deguichi H. 2001. Molecular phylogeny of the Sematophyllaceae (Hypnales, Musci) based on chloroplast rbcL sequences. Journal of the Hattori Botanical Laboratory 90: 221–240. Tsubota H, Nakao N, Arikawa T, Yamaguchi T, Higuchi M, Deguchi H, Seki T. 1999. A preliminary phylogeny of Hypnales (Musci) as inferred from chloroplast rbcL sequence data. Bryological Research 7: 233–248. Tsubota H, Nakao N, Yamaguchi T, Seki T, Deguichi H. 2000. Preliminary phylogenetic relationships of the genus Brotherella and its allied genera (Hypnales, Musci) based on chloroplast rbcL sequence data. Journal of the Hattori Botanical Laboratory 88: 79– 99. Tsubota H, Arikawa T, Akiyama H, Luna E D, Gonzalez D, Higuchi M, Deguchi H. 2002. Molecular phylogeny of Hypnobryalean mosses as inferred from a large-scale dataset of chloroplast rbcL, with special reference to the Hypnaceae and possibly related families. Hikobia 13: 645–665.

Integrating bryophytes into a forest management plan: lessons from grid-mapping in the forest of Soignes (Belgium)

Abstract 258 bryophyte species were recorded in the 4 380 ha of the forest of Soignes (Belgium). The specific richness is artificially increased by many bryophytes not characteristic of forests such as epilithic species and weeds. In addition, certain species characteristic of ancient woodlands, like Anomodon viticulosus, Brachythecium plumosum, Homalia trichomanoides, Homalothecium sericeum, Rhizomnium punctatum, Taxiphyllum wissgrillii and Thamnobryum alopecurum were found on the concrete of the drainage network. Thus, the richness of the forest of Soignes is partly due to the ability of the bryophytes to colonize habitats of substitution. This ability suggests that the use of bryophytes as indicators of ancient woodlands must be properly tested. Two species, Ephemerum stellatum and Orthotrichum consimile , belong to the European Red List of Bryophytes, while 20 other species are considered as rare or threatened in Belgium. In addition, the forest of Soignes represents a remarkable disjunct area of distribution in Belgium for a number of other species. The distribution of species richness is patchy, ranging from 37 species·km −2 to 122 species·km −2, with an average of 70.5 species·km −2 . The effects of current management practices on the bryoflora are documented, and suggestions for integrating bryophyte conservation with logging and recreation are made.

Distribution and ecology of Fissidens celticus J.A. Paton (Fissidentaceae, Bryopsida) in continental Europe

Fissidens celticus is currently known from Britain, Belgium, northern and western France, and western Germany, where it is reported for the first time. Fissidens celticus is dioicous and only female plants have been observed. Fissidens celticus is an oceanic, stenoic species avoiding long periods of frost on almost permanently moist, acidic and oligotrophic soils in shaded conditions at altitudes ranging between 140 and 360 m in continental Europe. As the populations are annually carried away with the erosion of the banks after the frost, it is very likely that shoots, or fragments of shoots, recolonize each year in the appropriate micro-habitats.

Taxonomic assessment, distribution, and ecology of Tortula vahliana var. minor (Pottiaceae, Bryopsida)

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A checklist of the bryophytes of Andorra

A checklist of 137 liverwort and 445 moss species is established for Andorra based on a review of the literature and a long-term floristic survey. Five moss species, Barbula amplexifolia, Ditrichum zonatum, Grimmia donniana, Pohlia bulbifera, and P. lutescens, are new to the Iberian Peninsula. Another 7 liverwort and 156 moss species are new to Andorra. For each species, the distribution at the scale of 1 km2 and altitudinal range are documented, resulting in an improved assessment of the frequency and distribution of 101 moss species previously reported from a single record. Haplomitrium hookeri and Scapania verrucosa, which are the two Regionally Extinct species of the Spanish Red List of liverworts, occur in Andorra, which hosts between 23 and 37% of the species listed as Critically Rare, Endangered, or Vulnerable in the Spanish Red List of bryophytes. Therefore, it appears that Andorra is a key area for the conservation of the high-altitude flora of the Iberian Peninsula.

New Bryophyte Records from Macaronesia

Abstract In this paper we provide new bryophyte reports for Macaronesia as a whole, for single archipelagos, and for single islands. New to Macaronesia are Aneura pseudopinguis, Didymodon brachyphyllus, Diplophyllum obtusifolium, Distichium capillaceum, and Schizymenium pontevedrense. First archipelago reports concern Brachythecium albicans (Canary Islands), Bryum dichotomum (Cape Verde), B. kunzei (Canary Islands), Homalothecium aureum (Cape Verde), Hydrogonium bolleanum (Madeira), Isopterygiopsis pulchella (Canary Islands), Pohlia cruda (Madeira), Pterygoneurum ovatum (Canary Islands), Schistidium flaccidum (Madeira), and Tortella fasciculata (Madeira). First single island reports are given for 42 species.