Phylogenetic Analysis of Bryophyte Diversity

Bryophytes—comprising mosses, liverworts and hornworts—constitute one of the earliest diverging lineages of land plants and play vital roles in global ecosystems, from carbon sequestration in peatlands to moisture regulation in forests. Their modest morphological variation has long hindered clear resolution of phylogenetic relationships, but advances in molecular sequencing and analytical methods now permit genome-wide studies that integrate nuclear and organellar data. These approaches have clarified ordinal and family-level relationships, revealed cryptic species hidden by morphological stasis and uncovered temporal patterns of diversification, including repeated radiations since the mid-Mesozoic. By linking molecular clocks with palaeoclimatic events, researchers have shown how climatic shifts and the rise of angiosperm-dominated biomes have influenced bryophyte evolution. This expanding phylogenetic framework underpins modern taxonomy, informs biogeographical reconstructions and supports conservation strategies for these ecologically significant bioindicators.

Research from Nature Portfolio

Resolution of the ordinal relationships in mosses has been greatly enhanced by analyses of targeted exons from complete organellar and selected nuclear genomes, sampling nearly all moss orders to clarify early divergences and relative rates of molecular evolution. Large-scale phylogenies calibrated with fossil constraints have revealed successive bursts of diversification in mosses and liverworts since the mid-Mesozoic, demonstrating that rapid lineage accumulation, rather than uniformly slow speciation, underlies present-day bryophyte diversity. Studies focusing on leafy epiphytic liverworts have identified a pronounced Cretaceous increase in diversification coincident with the expansion of humid, megathermal forests, illustrating how bryophyte lineages have responded to ecological opportunities created by angiosperm radiation.

Phylogenetic Analysis of Bryophyte Diversity publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in phylogenetic analysis of bryophyte diversity across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

Phylogenetic reconstruction: Inference of evolutionary relationships among species or lineages using molecular or morphological data.

Molecular marker: A DNA sequence used to compare genetic variation across taxa for phylogenetic or population studies.

Organellar genome: The genetic material of mitochondria or plastids, often used alongside nuclear data to resolve phylogenies.

Genotyping by sequencing (GBS): A high-throughput method that profiles genome-wide single nucleotide polymorphisms.

Chemotaxonomy: Classification of organisms based on their chemical constituents, such as fatty acids or secondary metabolites.

Cryptic species: Distinct evolutionary lineages that are morphologically similar and thus easily overlooked in traditional taxonomy.

References

1. Unveiling the diversification and dispersal of the Lewinskya firma complex (Orthotrichaceae, Bryophyta) across Africa and India. Frontiers in Plant Science (2024).
2. Fatty Acid Profiles of Some Siberian Bryophytes and Prospects of Their Use in Chemotaxonomy. Biomolecules (2023).
3. New Taxonomic Arrangement of Dicranella s.l. and Aongstroemia s.l. (Dicranidae, Bryophyta). Plants (2023).
4. Resolution of the ordinal phylogeny of mosses using targeted exons from organellar and nuclear genomes. Nature Communications (2019).
5. Extant diversity of bryophytes emerged from successive post-Mesozoic diversification bursts. Nature Communications (2014).
6. Epiphytic leafy liverworts diversified in angiosperm-dominated forests. Scientific Reports (2014).