The ''Great American Biotic Interchange'' (GABI) is regarded as a defining event in the biogeography of the Americas. It is hypothesized to have occurred when the Isthmus of Panama closed ca three million years ago (Ma), ending the isolation of South America and permitting the mixing of its biota with that of North America. This view of the GABI is based largely upon the animal fossil record, but recent molecular biogeographic studies of plants that show repeated instances of long-distance dispersal over major oceanic barriers suggest that perhaps the land bridge provided by the isthmus may have been less necessary for plant migration. Here we show that plants have significantly earlier divergence time estimates than animals for historical migration events across the Isthmus of Panama region. This difference in timing indicates that plants had a greater propensity for dispersal over the isthmus before its closure compared with animals. The GABI was therefore asynchronous for plants and animals, which has fundamental implications for the historical assembly of tropical biomes in the most species-rich forests on the planet.

No abstract

Summary• Efforts are currently underway to establish a standard DNA barcode region for fungi; we tested the utility of the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) of nuclear ribosomal DNA for DNA barcoding in lichen-forming fungi by sampling diverse species across eight orders.• Amplification of the ITS region (ITS1-5.8S-ITS2) was conducted for 351 samples, encompassing 107, 55 and 28 species, genera and families, respectively, of lichenized fungi. We assessed the ability of the entire ITS vs the ITS2 alone to discriminate between species in a taxonomic dataset (members of the genus Usnea) and a floristic dataset.• In the floristic dataset, 96.3% of sequenced samples could be assigned to the correct species using ITS or ITS2; a barcode gap for ITS is present in 92.1% of species. Although fewer species have a barcode gap in the taxonomic dataset (73.3% with ITS and 68.8% with ITS2), up to 94.1% of samples were assigned to the correct species using BLAST.• While discrimination between the most closely related species will remain challenging, our results demonstrate the potential to identify a high percentage of specimens to the correct species, and the remainder to the correct genus, when using DNA barcoding in a floristic context.

Aim  Lichen epiphytes are important for biodiversity conservation and are also widely applied as environmental indicators. However, biogeographical and ecological knowledge underpinning lichen epiphyte conservation, and the use of lichens as indicators, is based primarily on a limited range of ‘macrolichen’ species. Wider trends in epiphyte biodiversity remain largely unexplored. This paper examines the community structure of lichen epiphytes on aspen (Populus tremula L.) in Scotland, including species across all functional groups and comprising, therefore, taxonomically difficult ‘microlichens’. Location  Northern Britain (Scotland). Methods  Epiphytes were sampled from 12 sites throughout Scotland and examined at two scales: between and within aspen stands. Species were classified into contrasting functional groups and ordination by detrended correspondence analysis was used to summarize community structure. Results  Within aspen stands (between trees) epiphyte communities showed successional patterns related to tree age. These successional patterns changed predictably for stands aligned along a climatic gradient (between stands). Main conclusions  A dual climatic–successional trend in epiphyte community structure is presented. Large‐scale trends in epiphyte diversity are explained as the local response of species with contrasting functional traits to climate and autogenic succession. Turnover of functional groups between stands is positively related to β‐diversity, and ecological limits to the frequency of contrasting functional groups are presented. Accordingly, the study and application of lichen species with similar functional traits may inadequately represent patterns of biodiversity. This prompts criticism of the currently accepted conservation strategy, i.e. (1) an emphasis in the conservation literature on ‘macrolichen’ species with similar ecologies and (2) the application of lichen indices over climatically variable geographical areas.

Summary1 Four peat cores were collected from Kentra Moss, north-west Scotland, and analysed for botanical macrofossils and peat humi®cation. The pollen record was used as a template for the identi®cation of synchronous levels between cores. 2 A non-random pattern of change in bryophyte macrofossils and humi®cation was simultaneous between all four cores. Stratigraphic changes occurred independently of human land-use and were best interpreted as palaeoclimatic events. Remains of Racomitrium lanuginosum and Sphagnum papillosum, in conjunction with changes in peat humi®cation, provided the clearest indication of past increases in climatic wetness (`wetshifts') to impact upon mire hydrology and ecology. 3 Eight wetshifts were identi®ed and radiocarbon-dated, beginning at c. 3250, 2550, 2150, 1400, 1150, 875, 600 and 325 calibrated years BP (cal. BP). Seven of these wetshifts match closely with palaeoclimatic events from a range of mires previously examined in Britain and Ireland. We suggest that blanket mires may provide the best source of decade-to century-scale palaeoclimatic information in oceanic north-west Europe. 4 The proxy-climatic evidence indicates that: (i) the extinction of Sphagnum imbricatum at Kentra Moss (at c. 1400 cal. BP) was caused by an increase in climatic and mire surface wetness, when it was replaced ®rst by Racomitrium lanuginosum and then by Sphagnum papillosum; and (ii) that increased climatic wetness and human land-use were responsible for the shift from an early minerotrophic peatland to ombrotrophic blanket mire at c. 4070 cal. BP. 5 Given the evidence for a prevailing climatic e ect on the development of Kentra Moss, the e ect of human-induced global warming on Britain's blanket mire resource will probably be signi®cant. British blanket mires have international conservation status, and future changes in their ecology will challenge conservationists, academics and politicians.