Phylogenetic analyses using two fast evolving plastid markers (rps4, trnL‐F) reveal the occurrence of the Australasiatic liverwort genus Lobatiriccardia in the Neotropics. Two new species, Lobatiriccardia oberwinkleri and L. verdoornioides are reported from Ecuador. Phylogenetic reconstructions support Lobatiriccardia and Aneura as monophyletic sister groups and do not place Verdoornia as the first branching Aneuracean taxon but rather sister to Aneura and Lobatiriccardia, which is consistent with mycothallus development in Aneuraceae. Subsequently, Aneuraceae, as treated here, include Aneura, Lobati‐ riccardia, Riccardia, and Verdoornia. Although high levels of genetic structure can be observed among members of the Aneura pinguis complex, current species delimitations are questionable, and detailed analyses of cryptic speciation and biogeographic patterns are needed to understand the evolution of Aneura, with particular attention paid to the non‐photosynthetic species Aneura mirabilis. Ancestral state reconstructions suggest an evolutionary trend of female gametangia, and subsequently the sporophyte, moving from a central position on the dorsal side of the thallus (Verdoornia) to a marginal position between thallus lobes (Lobatiriccardia) to a more ventral (quasi latero‐ventral) position under the thallus margin (Aneura).
Aneura pinguis (Aneuraceae) is a cosmopolitan thalloid liverwort that shows a specific mycorrhiza-like interaction with basidiomycetes. To date, tropical specimens have not been studied in great depth. Samples of A. pinguis were collected from 48 individuals in one plot in South Ecuador and 54 individuals in five European countries. Light and transmission electron microscopy and molecular analyses based on nuclear rDNA coding for the ribosomal large subunit (nucLSU) and from the 5.8s-ITS2 regions were carried out to identify the associated mycobionts and to study their phylogenetic relationships. Microscopic and ultrastructural investigations of the fungal colonisation showed a high congruence between the European and the Ecuadorian sites and confirmed previous results. Tulasnellales are the only mycobionts that could be detected from ultrastructural characters with certainty. Molecular phylogenetic analysis indicated the presence of tulasnelloid fungi from at least 13 distinct clades. The composition of the communities of tulasnelloid fungi in A. pinguis differs between Ecuador and Europe. The diversity of tulasnelloid fungal partners was much higher at the Ecuadorian site.
Development of heavy metals and nitrogen concentrations in moss throughout Germany
Under the Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution, moss samples have been collected in Europe every five years since 1990 and evaluated for the concentration of heavy metals (since 1990) and nitrogen (since 2005). This article uses the data of this European Moss Survey to geostatistically evaluate and map the spatial distribution and temporal development of the heavy metals cadmium (Cd), lead (Pb) and mercury (Hg) as well as nitrogen (N) for Germany. Since the year of first sampling in Germany (Cd, Pb: 1990, Hg: 1995), heavy metal concentrations in moss tissue have decreased, while nitrogen concentrations have been remaining at almost the same level since 2005. Since 1990, Cd and Pb have shown a consistent hotspot of bioaccumulation within a broad band from North Rhine-Westphalia to Saxony, while for the other regions and with regard to Hg for most regions of Germany the geostatistical analyses corroborate that the spatial patterns of element concentrations in moss are changing across time. With regard to N, North Rhine-Westphalia and Mecklenburg-West Pomerania (2005–2015), as well as northwestern Germany (2015), proved to be a hotspot of nitrogen accumulation in moss. By contrast, the N concentration in mosses has decreased significantly in the southern German states, especially in Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg.
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