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The cosmopolitan moss Bryum argenteum in Antarctica: recent colonisation or in situ survival?

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Abstract

Since the onset of glaciation following the Oligocene (30–28 Ma), the prevalence of increasingly cold conditions has shaped the evolution of the Antarctic biota. Two hypotheses, postglacial recruitment from extra-regional locations and in situ persistence, have been proposed to explain the biogeography of the contemporary species-poor terrestrial Antarctic biota. Bryophytes, which form a major group of the Antarctic flora, exhibit a strong, inherent ability to survive cold conditions but also have high long-distance dispersal capacities, which are compatible with both hypotheses. Here, we test these hypotheses by means of population genetic and phylogeographic analyses of the cosmopolitan moss Bryum argenteum. We find evidence for at least three independent colonisation events of the species in Antarctica. Ancestral area reconstruction coupled with molecular dating suggests colonisation times of the different Antarctic clades ranging from four million years for the oldest lineage to half a million years for the youngest lineage. This suggests multiple colonisation events of Antarctica by this species during several glacial cycles within the Pleistocene, Pliocene and possibly late Miocene. This is the first study to demonstrate in situ persistence of bryophytes in Antarctica throughout previous glaciations.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank the curators of the herbaria AAS, ACHE, CAS, CONN, E, EGR, MHA, MW, NY, S and also the private herbaria of D.T. Holyoak and B. Goffinet for the loan of material and to B. Albertos, R. Garilleti, B. Goffinet, J. M. González-Mancebo, F. Lara and M. Stech for collecting material used in this work. We also thank Oliva Martin-Sanchez for producing Fig. 1. This study has been supported financially by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (Projects CGL2008-00275/BOS and CGL2011-22936/BOS) and by the European Regional Development Funds. E. M. Biersma is supported by a Natural Environment Research Council PhD studentship (ref NE/K50094X/1), and P. Convey by Natural Environment Research Council core funding to the British Antarctic Society programme ‘Environmental Change and Evolution’. This paper also contributes to the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research ‘State of the Antarctic Ecosystem’ programme. J. Patiño and A. Vanderpoorten gratefully acknowledge financial support from the Belgian Funds for Scientific Research and the University of Liege. We thank three reviewers for helpful comments.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Biología Vegetal (Botánica), Facultad de Biología, Universidad de Murcia, Campus de Espinardo, 30100, Murcia, Spain

    S. Pisa, O. Werner & R. M. Ros

  2. British Antarctic Survey, Natural Environment Research Council, High Cross, Madingley Road, Cambridge, CB3 0ET, UK

    E. M. Biersma & P. Convey

  3. Department of Plant Sciences, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge, CB2 3EA, UK

    E. M. Biersma

  4. Gateway Antarctica, University of Canterbury, Private Bag 4800, Christchurch, 8140, New Zealand

    P. Convey

  5. Institute of Botany, University of Liège, 4000, Liège, Belgium

    J. Patiño & A. Vanderpoorten

  6. Department of Plant Biology, La Laguna University, Tenerife, Spain

    J. Patiño

  7. Azorean Biodiversity Group (CITA-A) and Platform for Enhancing Ecological Research and Sustainability (PEERS), Dep. Ciências Agrárias, Universidade dos Açores, Terceira, Portugal

    J. Patiño & A. Vanderpoorten

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  1. S. Pisa
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  2. E. M. Biersma
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  3. P. Convey
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  4. J. Patiño
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  5. A. Vanderpoorten
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  6. O. Werner
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Correspondence to S. Pisa.

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S. Pisa and E. M. Biersma have contributed equally to this paper.

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Pisa, S., Biersma, E.M., Convey, P. et al. The cosmopolitan moss Bryum argenteum in Antarctica: recent colonisation or in situ survival?. Polar Biol 37, 1469–1477 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-014-1537-3

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