Tolerance to environmental desiccation in moss sperm

Shortlidge, Erin E.; Rosenstiel, Todd N.; Eppley, Sarah M.

doi:10.1111/j.1469-8137.2012.04106.x

Cited by 27 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 127 publications

(147 reference statements)

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“…On the one hand, although sperm cells might tolerate desiccation for extended periods (Shortlidge, Rosenstiel & Eppley 2012), sexual reproduction depends on sperms swimming to eggs via a continuous film of water. As a consequence, fertilization ranges, which are of one to a few tens of decimetres (Bisang, Ehrl en & Heden€ as 2004;Rydgren, Cronberg & Økland 2006), are extremely short as compared to angiosperm's pollen ranges.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Baker's law and the island syndromes in bryophytes

et al. 2013

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Summary1. The evolution of island syndromes has long served as a model to understand the mechanisms accounting for phenotypic differentiation. Combining literature data with actual observations, we determine whether typical syndromes such as the loss of dispersal power and the bias towards selfcompatibility (Baker's law) apply to vagile organisms, using bryophytes as a model. 2. The life-history traits (LHTs) observed in oceanic island floras were statistically different from those observed on continents, evidencing the evolution of island syndromes. In contrast, LHTs of continental and continental island floras were similar, pointing to differences in migration intensity between continents, continental islands and oceanic islands. 3. The proportion of bisexual species was significantly higher on oceanic islands than on continents. A significant proportion of species that are unisexual or bisexual on continents shifted towards exclusive bisexuality on oceanic islands, suggesting that Baker's law applies to bryophytes. The underlying mechanisms, however, probably differ from in situ selection for selfing. 4. The proportion of species producing specialized asexual diaspores, which are assumed to play a role in short-distance dispersal (SDD), was higher on oceanic islands than on continents. The proportion of species producing spores, which are involved in long-distance dispersal (LDD), exhibited the reverse trend, suggesting a shift in the prevalent reproductive strategy to favour SDD on oceanic islands. Approximately 50% of the species, however, maintained the ability to produce sporophytes on oceanic islands, and the relative frequency of fertile shoots within collections of four model species was even higher on islands than on continents. 5. Synthesis. Bryophytes exhibit typical island syndromes, indicating that migration rates between oceanic islands and continents are not sufficient to prevent the effects of genetic drift and contradicting the view that the sea does not impede migration in the group. Significant shifts in life-history traits (LHTs) towards increased production of specialized asexual diaspores and decreased sporophyte production on oceanic islands indeed point to a global loss of long-distance dispersal (LDD) ability. The maintenance of traits characteristic for LDD in a large number of species has, however, substantial consequences for our understanding of island plant evolution, and in particular, for our vision of islands as evolutionary dead ends.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Baker's law and the island syndromes in bryophytes

et al. 2013

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“…However, recent studies showed that dioicous mosses are more genetically diverse than would be expected with such dispersal limitation (Wyatt et al, 1989;Van der Velde et al, 2001;Wilson and Provan, 2003). Indeed several studies have since demonstrated greater sperm dispersal distances (for a review, see Glime, 2007), as well as stresstolerant sperm (Rosenstiel and Eppley, 2009;Shortlidge et al, 2012) and microarthropod-mediated sexual reproduction (Cronberg et al, 2006;Cronberg, 2012;Rosenstiel et al, 2012). Other factors can limit sexual reproduction in mosses, including: inadequate resources (Stark et al, 2000) growth trade-offs (Ehrlén et al, 2000) and investment in environmental stress defence (Convey and Smith, 1993;Stark et al, 2009;Eppley et al, 2011).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Passive warming reduces stress and shifts reproductive effort in the Antarctic moss,Polytrichastrum alpinum

Shortlidge

Eppley

Köhler

et al. 2016

Ann Bot

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Background and Aims The Western Antarctic Peninsula is one of the most rapidly warming regions on Earth, and many biotic communities inhabiting this dynamic region are responding to these well-documented climatic shifts. Yet some of the most prevalent organisms of terrestrial Antarctica, the mosses, and their responses to warming have been relatively overlooked and understudied. In this research, the impacts of 6 years of passive warming were investigated using open top chambers (OTCs), on moss communities of Fildes Peninsula, King George Island, Antarctica.Methods The effects of experimental passive warming on the morphology, sexual reproductive effort and stress physiology of a common dioicous Antarctic moss, Polytrichastrum alpinum, were tested, gaining the first speciesspecific mechanistic insight into moss responses to warming in the Antarctic. Additionally community analyses were conducted examining the impact of warming on overall moss percentage cover and sporophyte production in intact Antarctic moss communities.Key Results Our results show a generally greater percentage moss cover under warming conditions as well as increased gametangia production in P. alpinum. Distinct morphological and physiological shifts in P. alpinum were found under passive warming compared with those without warming: warmed mosses reduced investment in cellular stress defences, but invested more towards primary productivity and gametangia development.Conclusions Taken together, results from this study of mosses under passive warming imply that in ice-free moss-dominated regions, continued climate warming will probably have profound impacts on moss biology and colonization along the Western Antarctic Peninsula. Such findings highlight the fundamental role that mosses will play in influencing the terrestrialization of a warming Antarctica.

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“…Schofield (1971) discussed how low levels of free water along with the generally isolated patches of mostly dioicous (>60%) species (which may form single sex colonies) may limit sexual reproduction in the Arctic. Recent studies have shown, however, that sexual reproduction can occur in environments with only short-term availability of free water, as sperm cells and antheridia can withstand dehydration (Shortlidge et al 2012;Stark et al 2016). Monoicous acrocarpous taxa tend to reproduce sexually regularly (Schofield 1971;Longton 1988), but phenological data are lacking or incomplete for most taxa.…”

Section: Long-distance Dispersalmentioning

confidence: 99%

Future directions and priorities for Arctic bryophyte research

et al. 2017

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The development of evidence-based international strategies for the conservation and management of Arctic ecosystems in the face of climate change is hindered by critical knowledge gaps in Arctic floristic diversity and evolution. Particularly poorly studied are the bryophytes, which dominate the vegetation across vast areas of the Arctic and consequently play an important role in global biogeochemical cycles. Currently, much of what is known about Arctic floristic evolution is based on studies of vascular plants. Bryophytes, however, possess a number of features, such as poikilohydry, totipotency, several reproductive strategies, and the ability to disperse through microscopic diaspores, that may cause their responses to Arctic environments to differ from those of the vascular plants. Here we discuss several priority areas identified in the Arctic Council's "Arctic Biodiversity Assessment" that are necessary to illuminate patterns of Arctic bryophyte evolution and diversity, including dispersal, glacial refugia, local adaptation, and ecological interactions with bryophyte-associated microbiomes. A survey of digitally available herbarium data archived in the largest online aggregate, GBIF, across the Arctic to boreal zones indicates that sampling coverage of mosses is heterogeneous and relatively sparse in the Arctic sensu stricto. A coordinated international effort across the Arctic will be necessary to address knowledge gaps in Arctic bryophyte diversity and evolution in the context of ongoing climate change.Key words: biodiversity, dispersal, local adaptation, microbiome, phylogeography.

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Tolerance to environmental desiccation in moss sperm

Cited by 27 publications

References 127 publications

Baker's law and the island syndromes in bryophytes

Baker's law and the island syndromes in bryophytes

Passive warming reduces stress and shifts reproductive effort in the Antarctic moss,Polytrichastrum alpinum

Future directions and priorities for Arctic bryophyte research

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