Barbara M. Thiers

Bryophytes : their chemistry and chemical taxonomy

PART I: MORPHOLOGY AND TAXONOMY: S.R. Gradstein: Morphology and classification of the Hepaticae R.E. Longton: Mosses. PART II: CHEMICAL CONSTITUENTS: J.D. Connolly: Monoterpenoids and sesqiterpenoids from the Hepaticae Akihiko Matsuo and K. Daisuke: Structures of New Sesqiteroids from the liverwort Mylia taylorii C.L. Wu: Some new findings on the chemistry of Taiwanese liverworts V. Herout: Diterpenes and higher terpenes from liverworts G.W. Patterson , G.R. Wolfe, T.A. Salt, and P.L. Chiu: Sterols of bryophytes with emphasis on the configuration at C-24 D.S. Rycroft: Some recent NMR studies of diterpenoids from the Hepaticae P. Karunen: The acyl lipids of bryophytes K.R. Markham: Bryophyte flavonoids, their structures, distribution and evolutionary significance H. Geiger: Biflavonoids in bryophytes J. Gorham: Phenolic compounds other than flavonoids from bryophytes R. Takeda: Phenolic compounds from Anthcerotae T.H. Eicher: Recent results from the synthesis of chemical constituents of bryophytes. PART III: BIOCHEMISTRY AND PHYSIOLOGY: H. Rudolph: Biochemical and physiological aspects of bryophytes J. Wilschke, E. Hoppe, and H. Rudolph: Biosynthesis of sphagnum mosses M. M. Johri and B.M.A. Henriques: Nitrate reductase from the moss Funaria D.V. Basile and M. R. Basile: Hydroxyproline metabolism and hydroxyproline containing glycoproteins in leafy liverworts S. Hunack and L. Meinunger: Plant growth regulatory activities of bryophytes, a contribution to the chemical ecology of mosses and liverorts D. H. Brown and J.M. Wells: The extracellular and intracellular uptake of inorganic chemicals by bryophytes R. Herrmann: Biomonitoring of organic and inorganic trace pollutants by means of mosses. PART IV: METABOLISM OF BRYOPHYTE AND CELL CULTURES: H. Becker: Secondary metabolites from in vitro cultures of liverworts K. Katoh and R. Tadeka: Growth and production of secondary metabolites by cultured bryophyte cells Y. Ohta and T. Takata: Secondary metabolite production in cultured cells of liverworts. PART V: BIOLOGICAL ACTIVITY OF NATURAL PRODUCTS: Y. Asakawa: Terpenoids and aromatic compounds with pharmacological activity from bryophytes M. Tori: Synthetic study of biologically active compounds from liverworts. PART VI: CHEMOTAXONOMIC RELEVANCE OF SECONDARY METABOLITES: R. Mues: The significance of flavonoids for the classification of bryophyte taxa at different taxonomic ranks J. Szeykowski and I. Odrzykoski: Chemical differentiation of Aneura pinguis (L.) Dum. ( Hepaticae aneuraceae ) in Poland and some comments on application of enzymatic markers in bryology K. Koponen, T. Koponen, T.H. Pyysalo, K. Himberg, and P. Mansikkamaki: Composition of volatile compounds in Splachnaceae.

Functional trait space and the latitudinal diversity gradient

Significance We present a conceptual framework for testing theories for the latitudinal gradient of species richness in terms of variation in functional diversity at the alpha, beta, and gamma scales. We compared ecological community theory with large-scale observational data of tree species richness and functional diversity. We found that the patterns of functional trait diversity are not consistent with any one theory of species diversity. These conflicting results indicate that none of the broad classes of biodiversity theory considered here is alone able to explain the latitudinal gradient of species diversity in terms of functional trait space. The processes causing the latitudinal gradient in species richness remain elusive. Ecological theories for the origin of biodiversity gradients, such as competitive exclusion, neutral dynamics, and environmental filtering, make predictions for how functional diversity should vary at the alpha (within local assemblages), beta (among assemblages), and gamma (regional pool) scales. We test these predictions by quantifying hypervolumes constructed from functional traits representing major axes of plant strategy variation (specific leaf area, plant height, and seed mass) in tree assemblages spanning the temperate and tropical New World. Alpha-scale trait volume decreases with absolute latitude and is often lower than sampling expectation, consistent with environmental filtering theory. Beta-scale overlap decays with geographic distance fastest in the temperate zone, again consistent with environmental filtering theory. In contrast, gamma-scale trait space shows a hump-shaped relationship with absolute latitude, consistent with no theory. Furthermore, the overall temperate trait hypervolume was larger than the overall tropical hypervolume, indicating that the temperate zone permits a wider range of trait combinations or that niche packing is stronger in the tropical zone. Although there are limitations in the data, our analyses suggest that multiple processes have shaped trait diversity in trees, reflecting no consistent support for any one theory.

World checklist of hornworts and liverworts

Abstract A working checklist of accepted taxa worldwide is vital in achieving the goal of developing an online flora of all known plants by 2020 as part of the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation. We here present the first-ever worldwide checklist for liverworts (Marchantiophyta) and hornworts (Anthocerotophyta) that includes 7486 species in 398 genera representing 92 families from the two phyla. The checklist has far reaching implications and applications, including providing a valuable tool for taxonomists and systematists, analyzing phytogeographic and diversity patterns, aiding in the assessment of floristic and taxonomic knowledge, and identifying geographical gaps in our understanding of the global liverwort and hornwort flora. The checklist is derived from a working data set centralizing nomenclature, taxonomy and geography on a global scale. Prior to this effort a lack of centralization has been a major impediment for the study and analysis of species richness, conservation and systematic research at both regional and global scales. The success of this checklist, initiated in 2008, has been underpinned by its community approach involving taxonomic specialists working towards a consensus on taxonomy, nomenclature and distribution.

Habitat area and climate stability determine geographical variation in plant species range sizes

Despite being a fundamental aspect of biodiversity, little is known about what controls species range sizes. This is especially the case for hyperdiverse organisms such as plants. We use the largest botanical data set assembled to date to quantify geographical variation in range size for ∼ 85 000 plant species across the New World. We assess prominent hypothesised range-size controls, finding that plant range sizes are codetermined by habitat area and long- and short-term climate stability. Strong short- and long-term climate instability in large parts of North America, including past glaciations, are associated with broad-ranged species. In contrast, small habitat areas and a stable climate characterise areas with high concentrations of small-ranged species in the Andes, Central America and the Brazilian Atlantic Rainforest region. The joint roles of area and climate stability strengthen concerns over the potential effects of future climate change and habitat loss on biodiversity.

Shifts in trait means and variances in North American tree assemblages: species richness patterns are loosely related to the functional space

One of the key hypothesized drivers of gradients in species richness is environmental filtering, where environmental stress limits which species from a larger species pool gain membership in a local community owing to their traits. Whereas most studies focus on small-scale variation in functional traits along environmental gradient, the effect of large-scale environmental filtering is less well understood. Furthermore, it has been rarely tested whether the factors that constrain the niche space limit the total number of coexisting species. We assessed the role of environmental filtering in shaping tree assemblages across North America north of Mexico by testing the hypothesis that colder, drier, or seasonal environments (stressful conditions for most plants) constrain tree trait diversity and thereby limit species richness. We assessed geographic patterns in trait filtering and their relationships to species richness pattern using a comprehensive set of tree range maps. We focused on four key plant functional traits reflecting major life history axes (maximum height, specific leaf area, seed mass, and wood density) and four climatic variables (annual mean and seasonality of temperature and precipitation). We tested for significant spatial shifts in trait means and variances using a null model approach. While we found significant shifts in mean species’ trait values at most grid cells, trait variances at most grid cells did not deviate from the null expectation. Measures of environmental harshness (cold, dry, seasonal climates) and lower species richness were weakly associated with a reduction in variance of seed mass and specific leaf area. The pattern in variance of height and wood density was, however, opposite. These findings do not support the hypothesis that more stressful conditions universally limit species and trait diversity in North America. Environmental filtering does, however, structure assemblage composition, by selecting for certain optimum trait values under a given set of conditions.

A Checklist and Census Catalogue of British and Irish Bryophytes

The 2008 checklist of British bryophytes lists 1056 species (comprising 4 hornworts, 297 liverworts, 755 mosses), 15 subspecies and 94 varieties, in 304 genera. These are arranged in a full taxonomic hierarchy. The moss classification is broadly similar to that in the current standard flora, but the liverwort classification incorporates many new features resulting from recent genetic studies. Annotations provide literature references for all changes from the standard floras, including taxa newly added or deleted. For each taxon, there is a list of the vice-counties in which it has been found. Vice-county records are distinguished by whether or not there is a post-1959 record in the database of the Biological Records Centre at CEH Wallingford.

Increasing the efficiency of digitization workflows for herbarium specimens

Abstract The New York Botanical Garden Herbarium has been databasing and imaging its estimated 7.3 million plant specimens for the past 17 years. Due to the size of the collection, we have been selectively digitizing fundable subsets of specimens, making successive passes through the herbarium with each new grant. With this strategy, the average rate for databasing complete records has been 10 specimens per hour. With 1.3 million specimens databased, this effort has taken about 130,000 hours of staff time. At this rate, to complete the herbarium and digitize the remaining 6 million specimens, another 600,000 hours would be needed. Given the current biodiversity and economic crises, there is neither the time nor money to complete the collection at this rate. Through a combination of grants over the last few years, The New York Botanical Garden has been testing new protocols and tactics for increasing the rate of digitization through combinations of data collaboration, field book digitization, partial data entry and imaging, and optical character recognition (OCR) of specimen images. With the launch of the National Science Foundation’s new Advancing Digitization of Biological Collections program, we hope to move forward with larger, more efficient digitization projects, capturing data from larger portions of the herbarium at a fraction of the cost and time.

Index to the genera and species of Hepaticae described by William Mitten

William Mitten (1819–1906) described 373 species of Hepaticae in 25 publications between 1851 and 1889. Most of Mittens types are at NY, but original material of some species may be found at BM, FH, and G. This paper provides an index to the species and genera described by Mitten and a bibliography of papers in which his new hepatics were described. The index to species includes information on lectotypification, location of original or type material, and synonymy.

Digitization of The New York Botanical Garden Herbarium

The William and Lynda Steere Herbarium of The New York Botanical Garden has been digitizing specimens since 1995. At first, digitization included only specimen label data transcription, but specimen imaging was added in 1999. Over the years, computer technology has changed greatly, and consequently so have the hardware, software and workflow for accomplishing this work. Rapid digitization techniques developed mostly during the past five years have allowed a doubling in the rate at which specimens are digitized. Approximately 2.5 million specimens have been databased and 1.4 million have been digitally photographed. These data are served through the Garden’s C. V. Starr Virtual Herbarium and are shared through other data portals as well. Completion of the digitization of all American specimens (roughly five million) is projected by 2021.

New species of Cheilolejeunea and Otolejeunea (Hepaticae; Lejeuneaceae) from Australia

Two new species belonging to Lejeuneaceae subfamily Lejeuneoideae have been found in northern Queensland, Australia: Cheilolejeunea hallingii and Otolejeunea australiensis. Both are described and illustrated, and keys to related species in the paleotropics are included.