| Abstract Detail
Pteridological Section/AFS Rothfels, Carl [1], Windham, Michael [1], Pryer, Kathleen M. [1]. New insights into the relationships of Cystopteris, Acystopteris, and Gymnocarpium. Cystopteris has a well-deserved reputation for intractability: its family and suprafamilial relationships are unclear, its generic relationships and closest relatives are contested, and one species—C. fragilis—is world-wide in distribution and has the dubious distinction of being “perhaps the most formidable biosystematic challenge in the ferns.” By integrating data from two plastid and two low-copy nuclear loci with those from morphology, cytology, and geography, we are able to address longstanding questions at each of these evolutionary scales. Cystopteris forms a well-supported clade with Acystopteris and Gymnocarpium; together these genera are sister to the remaining 2600+ species of the eupolypods II clade. The three genera are monophyletic as currently circumscribed, but relationships within and among their species are obscured by extensive polyploidy. Low-copy nuclear data (gapCp; pgiC), in conjunction with chromosome counts and spore size data, show particular promise for untangling these often-reticulate relationships. Log in to add this item to your schedule
1 - Duke University, Department of Biology, 139 Biological Sciences Building, PO Box 90338, Durham, North Carolina, 27708, USA
Keywords: polyploidy Cystopteris Gymnocarpium low copy nuclear markers Spore size reticulation.
Presentation Type: Oral Paper:Papers for BSA Sections Session: 1 Location: Alpine B/Snowbird Center Date: Monday, July 27th, 2009 Time: 9:30 AM Number: 1007 Abstract ID:625 |