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Extant diversity of bryophytes emerged from successive post-Mesozoic diversification bursts

2014; Nature Portfolio; Volume: 5; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1038/ncomms6134

2041-1723

Benjamin Laenen, Blanka Shaw, Harald Schneider, Bernard Goffinet, Emmanuel Paradis, Aurélie Désamoré, Jochen Heinrichs, J. C. Villarreal, S. Robbert Gradstein, Stuart F. McDaniel, David G. Long, Laura L. Forrest, Michelle L. Hollingsworth, Barbara Crandall‐Stotler, Erin C. Davis, John Engel, Matt von Konrat, Endymion D. Cooper, Jairo Patiño, Cymon J. Cox, Alain Vanderpoorten, A. Jonathan Shaw,

Lichen and fungal ecology

Unraveling the macroevolutionary history of bryophytes, which arose soon after the origin of land plants but exhibit substantially lower species richness than the more recently derived angiosperms, has been challenged by the scarce fossil record. Here we demonstrate that overall estimates of net species diversification are approximately half those reported in ferns and ∼30% those described for angiosperms. Nevertheless, statistical rate analyses on time-calibrated large-scale phylogenies reveal that mosses and liverworts underwent bursts of diversification since the mid-Mesozoic. The diversification rates further increase in specific lineages towards the Cenozoic to reach, in the most recently derived lineages, values that are comparable to those reported in angiosperms. This suggests that low diversification rates do not fully account for current patterns of bryophyte species richness, and we hypothesize that, as in gymnosperms, the low extant bryophyte species richness also results from massive extinctions. The macroevolutionary history of bryophytes is poorly understood. Here, the authors show that, while overall diversification rates of bryophytes are substantially lower than those reported in ferns and angiosperms, they increase over time and become comparable to angiosperms in the most recent lineages.