Towards Resolving the Complete Fern Tree of Life

In the past two decades, molecular systematic studies have revolutionized our understanding of the evolutionary history of ferns. The availability of large molecular data sets together with efficient computer algorithms, now enables us to reconstruct evolutionary histories with previously unseen com...

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Veröffentlicht in:PloS one Jg. 6; H. 10; S. e24851
1. Verfasser: Lehtonen, Samuli
Format: Journal Article
Sprache:Englisch
Veröffentlicht: United States Public Library of Science 13.10.2011
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Schlagworte:
Algorithms
Analysis
Biogeography
Biology
Datasets
Dicksoniaceae
Ecological monitoring
Ecology
Evolutionary algorithms
Ferns
Ferns - classification
Ferns - genetics
Likelihood Functions
Molecular Sequence Data
Optimality criteria
Phylogenetics
Phylogeny
Studies
Systematics
Taxonomy
Triticeae
ISSN:1932-6203, 1932-6203
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Zusammenfassung:In the past two decades, molecular systematic studies have revolutionized our understanding of the evolutionary history of ferns. The availability of large molecular data sets together with efficient computer algorithms, now enables us to reconstruct evolutionary histories with previously unseen completeness. Here, the most comprehensive fern phylogeny to date, representing over one-fifth of the extant global fern diversity, is inferred based on four plastid genes. Parsimony and maximum-likelihood analyses provided a mostly congruent results and in general supported the prevailing view on the higher-level fern systematics. At a deep phylogenetic level, the position of horsetails depended on the optimality criteria chosen, with horsetails positioned as the sister group either of Marattiopsida-Polypodiopsida clade or of the Polypodiopsida. The analyses demonstrate the power of using a 'supermatrix' approach to resolve large-scale phylogenies and reveal questionable taxonomies. These results provide a valuable background for future research on fern systematics, ecology, biogeography and other evolutionary studies.
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Conceived and designed the experiments: SL. Performed the experiments: SL. Analyzed the data: SL. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: SL. Wrote the paper: SL.
ISSN:1932-6203
1932-6203
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0024851