As in 2017, the Biodiversity Research Collections will host activities organized by the AntU team during Bug Week on campus on July 26. between 12:00 and 4:00 PM.
Author: Bernard Goffinet
Internship in vertebrate collection
The BRC endowment sponsored curation by Rebecca Colby and Melinda Gosselin of Paraguayan bats, rodents and marsupials recently returned to the BRC from the University of Michigan.
News from the worm-lichen
Ioana Onuţ‐Brännström and colleagues from Uppsala published two studies focusing on the widespread worm-lichen genus Thamnolia, including the description of a new species, integrating specimens from the Cape Horn region held in the CONN herbarium. Based on these studies, the identifications of our holdings were revised and updated.
1. Onuţ‐Brännström, I., L. Tibell & H. Johannesson. 2017. A worldwide phylogeography of the whiteworm lichens Thamnolia reveals three lineages with distinct habitats and evolutionary histories. Ecology and Evolution 7: 3602–3615. pdf
Abstract reads: Thamnolia is a lichenized fungus with an extremely wide distribution, being encountered in arctic and alpine environments in most continents. In this study, we used molecular markers to investigate the population structure of the fungal symbiont and the associated photosynthetic partner of Thamnolia. By analyzing molecular, morphological, and chemical variation among 253 specimens covering the species distribution range, we revealed the existence of three mycobiont lineages. One lineage (Lineage A) is confined to the tundra region of Siberia and the Aleutian Islands, a second (Lineage B) is found in the high alpine region of the Alps and the Carpathians Mountains, and a third (Lineage C) has a worldwide distribution and covers both the aforementioned ecosystems. Molecular dating analysis indicated that the split of the three lineages is older than the last glacial maximum, but the distribution ranges and the population genetic analyses suggest an influence of last glacial period on the present‐day population structure of each lineage. We found a very low diversity of Lineage B, but a higher and similar one in Lineages A and C. Demographic analyses suggested that Lineage C has its origin in the Northern Hemisphere, possibly Scandinavia, and that it has passed through a bottleneck followed by a recent population expansion. While all three lineages reproduce clonally, recombination tests suggest rare or past recombination in both Lineages A and C. Moreover, our data showed that Lineage C has a comparatively low photobiont specificity, being found associated with four widespread Trebouxia lineages (three of them also shared with other lichens), while Lineages A and B exclusively harbor T. simplexs. lat. Finally, we did not find support for the recognition of taxa in Thamnolia based on either morphological or chemical characters.
2. Ioana, O.B., H. Johannesson & L. Tibell. 2018. Thamnolia tundrae sp. nov., a cryptic species and putative glacial relict. The Lichenologist 50: 59–75. pdf
Abstract reads: The lichen species of the genus Thamnolia, with their striking wormlike thalli and frequent occurrence in arctic and tundra environments, have often been debated with regard to the use of chemistry in lichen taxonomy. Phylogenetic studies have arrived at different conclusions as to the recognition of species in the genus, but in a recent study based on the analyses of six nuclear markers (genes or noncoding regions) of a worldwide sample of Thamnolia, we showed the existence of three well-supported lineages with two different chemistries and geographical distributions. Here, we present two analyses based on ITS and three markers, respectively, which were extended from the study mentioned above to include type specimens and additional Thamnolia strains and taxa. In these analyses the same three clades were retrieved. A putative DEAD-box helicase is used here for the first time as an informative phylogenetic marker to provide taxonomic resolution at species level. The distribution of morphological and chemical characters across the phylogeny was analyzed and it was concluded that three morphologically cryptic, but genetically well supported, species occur: T. vermicularis s. str., T. subuliformis s. str. and T. tundrae sp. nov. Thamnolia vermicularis s. str. contains individuals with uniform secondary chemistry (producing thamnolic acid) and a rather limited distribution in the European Alps, Tatra Mts and the Western Carpathians, a distribution which might result from glacial survival in an adjacent refugium/refugia. Thamnolia subuliformis s. str. is widely distributed in all hemispheres and the samples contain two chemotypes (either with thamnolic or squamatic acids). Thamnolia tundrae is described as new; it produces baeomycesic and squamatic acids, and has a distribution limited to the arctic tundra of Eurasia extending to the Aleutian Islands in North America. It may have survived the latest glaciation in coastal refugia near its present distribution. Thus, secondary chemistry alone is not suitable for characterizing species in Thamnolia, secondary chemistry and geographical origin are informative, and the ITS region can be confidently used for species recognition. Nomenclatural notes are given on several other names that have been used in Thamnolia.
New species of lichenized fungus
Simon A., J. Di Meglio, T. Goward, K. Dillman, T. Spribille & B. Goffinet. 2018. Sticta torii sp. nov., a remarkable lichen of high conservation priority from northwestern North America. Graphis Scripta 30: 105–114. pdf
Abstract reads: Sticta torii Simon & Goward sp. nov. is an isidiate lichen on Alnus, Malus and Picea branches in hypermaritime regions of northwestern North America. It is a rare species, currently known from only a few localities along a narrow longitudinal range in Southeast Alaska, British Columbia and Oregon. It differs from S. fuliginosa and S. sylvatica in its smaller, more irregular lobes and generally well-developed fringe of marginal isidia, and from S. beauvoisii in its smaller size, less elongate lobes and distinctly arbuscular to penicillate marginal isidia. Also diagnostic are the cyphellae, the basal portions of which bear cells with numerous papillae – a feature shared with a small group of closely allied neotropical species including the recently described S. arbuscula and S. arbusculotomentosa. These latter species, however, bear tomentum over the upper surface, unlike S. torii, which is glabrous.
The holotype is deposited in the CONN herbarium.
New publication on algae
McManus, H.A., K. Fučíková, P.O. Lewis, L.A. Lewis & K.G. Karol. 2018. Organellar phylogenomics inform systematics in the green algal family Hydrodictyaceae (Chlorophyceae) and provide clues to the complex evolutionary history of plastid genomes in the green algal tree of life. American Journal of Botany 105(3): 315–329. pdf
The abstract reads: PREMISE OF THE STUDY: Phylogenomic analyses across the green algae are resolving relationships at the class, order, and family levels and highlighting dynamic patterns of evolution in organellar genomes. Here we present a within- family phylogenomic study to resolve genera and species relationships in the family Hydrodictyaceae (Chlorophyceae), for which poor resolution in previous phylogenetic studies, along with divergent morphological traits, have precluded taxonomic revisions.
METHODS: Complete plastome sequences and mitochondrial protein-coding gene sequences were acquired from representatives of the Hydrodictyaceae using next-generation sequencing methods. Plastomes were characterized, and gene order and content were compared with plastomes spanning the Sphaeropleales. Single-gene and concatenated-gene phylogenetic analyses of plastid and mitochondrial genes were performed.
KEY RESULTS: The Hydrodictyaceae contain the largest sphaeroplealean plastomes thus far fully sequenced. Conservation of plastome gene order within Hydrodictyaceae is striking compared with more dynamic patterns revealed across Sphaeropleales. Phylogenetic analyses resolve Hydrodictyon sister to a monophyletic Pediastrum, though the morphologically distinct P. angulosum and P. duplex continue to be polyphyletic. Analyses of plastid data supported the neochloridacean genus Chlorotetraëdron as sister to Hydrodictyaceae, while conflicting signal was found in the mitochondrial data.
CONCLUSIONS: A phylogenomic approach resolved within-family relationships not obtainable with previous phylogenetic analyses. Denser taxon sampling across Sphaeropleales is necessary to capture patterns in plastome evolution, and further taxa and studies are needed to fully resolve the sister lineage to Hydrodictyaceae and polyphyly of Pediastrum angulosum and P. duplex.
UCONN part of global orchid conservation
The Botanic Gardens Conservation International released “Orchids: 2017 Global Ex situ Collections Assessment”, aimed at promoting the ex-situ conservation of 59% of orchids species considered threatened in the wild.
The collection of living plants of UCONN’s Biodiversity Research Collection, is one of 37 institutions that provided detailed accessions data to this study. In particular, given its diverse species holdings, our collection contributed to the depth of this report. 10% of the orchid species grown here at UConn are represented in 5 or fewer collections worldwide and a handful are only in cultivation here in Storrs at the present time.
Living plant collections featured in InkCT
The greenhouses are featured in the April issue of InkCT, Connecticut’s Art, Culture, Lifestyle Magazine. See the greenhouse’s Facebook post for all pages of the article.
New publication on plants
Dr. Matt Opel co-authored a publication with A.J. Young, L. Pulido Suarez, & M. Kapralov entitled”Leaf epidermal structure in the dwarf succulent genus Conophytum N.E. Br. (Aizoaceae). The summary reads: The epidermal structure of 66 species and subspecies of the dwarf succulent genus Conophytum N.E. Br. was examined using scanning electron microscopy. Taxa within this genus possess a number of adaptations to their arid environment including sunken stomata, a prominent wax layer and trichomes. The range of epidermal morphologies present in this genus is described and the use of these to inform infrageneric classification in Conophytum is discussed. In many cases the epidermis of closely related species is similar but this is not always the case across the 16 sections that comprise the genus. Whilst this study confirms the assignment of several recently described taxa to existing sections it suggests that the infrageneric classification of Conophytum needs to be re-evaluated.
Young, A. J., L. Pulido Suarez, M. Kapralov, and M. R. Opel. 2017. Leaf epidermal structure in the dwarf succulent genus Conophytum NE Br.(Aizoaceae). Bradleya 35: 217–237. pdf
Greenhouses featured in UCONN today
The diverse collection of living plants maintained in the greenhouses attracts students from across campus as featured in an article in UCONN today.
New publication on moss chemistry
EEB alum, Dr. Jessica Budke (now director of the herbarium at the University of Tennessee) pursued her work on the cuticle in mosses, collaborating with colleagues at UBC to further our understanding of the chemistry of the cuticle. Following their paper in Phytochemistry, they also published a comparison with the cuticle of angiosperms. Vouchers are deposited in CONN herbarium.
Busta, L., J. M. Budke & R. Jetter. 2016. The moss Funaria hygrometrica has cuticular wax similar to vascular plants, with distinct composition on leafy gametophyte, calyptra and sporophyte capsule surfaces. Annals of botany 118: 511–522. pdf
Abstract reads:
Background and Aims. Aerial surfaces of land plants are covered with a waxy cuticle to protect against water loss. The amount and composition of cuticular waxes on moss surfaces had rarely been investigated. Accordingly, the degree of similarity between moss and vascular plant waxes, and between maternal and offspring moss structure waxes is unknown. To resolve these issues, this study aimed at providing a comprehensive analysis of the waxes on the leafy gametophyte, gametophyte calyptra and sporophyte capsule of the moss Funaria hygrometrica.
Methods. Waxes were extracted from the surfaces of leafy gametophytes, gametophyte calyptrae and sporophyte capsules, separated by gas chromatography, identified qualitatively with mass spectrometry, and quantified with flame ionization detection. Diagnostic mass spectral peaks were used to determine the isomer composition of wax esters.
Key Results. The surfaces of the leafy gametophyte, calyptra and sporophyte capsule of F. hygrometrica were covered with 094, 20 and 044 lg cm–2 wax, respectively. While each wax mixture was composed of mainly fatty acid alkyl esters, the waxes from maternal and offspring structures had unique compositional markers. b-Hydroxy fatty acid alkyl esters were limited to the leafy gametophyte and calyptra, while alkanes, aldehydes and diol esters were restricted to the sporophyte capsule. Ubiquitous fatty acids, alcohols, fatty acid alkyl esters, aldehydes and al- kanes were all found on at least one surface.
Conclusions. This is the first study to determine wax coverage (lg cm–2) on a moss surface, enabling direct com- parisons with vascular plants, which were shown to have an equal amount or more wax than F. hygrometrica. Wax ester biosynthesis is of particular importance in this species, and the ester-forming enzyme(s) in different parts of the moss may have different substrate preferences. Furthermore, the alkane-forming wax biosynthesis pathway, found widely in vascular plants, is active in the sporophyte capsule, but not in the leafy gametophyte or calyptra. Overall, wax composition and coverage on F. hygrometrica were similar to those reported for some vascular plant species, suggesting that the underlying biosynthetic processes in plants of both lineages were inherited from a com- mon ancestor.