Ferns diversified in the shadow of angiosperms

By Harald Schneider, E. Schuettpelz, K. Pryer, R. Cranfill, S. Magallón, R. Lupia. Nature, 2004

801 citations recorded by the source corpus.

The rise of angiosperms during the Cretaceous period is often portrayed as coincident with a dramatic drop in the diversity and abundance of many seed-free vascular plant lineages, including ferns. This has led to the widespread belief that ferns, once a principal component of terrestrial ecosystems, succumbed to the ecological predominance of angiosperms and are mostly evolutionary holdovers from the late Palaeozoic/early Mesozoic era. The first appearance of many modern fern genera in the early Tertiary fossil record implies another evolutionary scenario; that is, that the majority of living ferns resulted from a more recent diversification. But a full understanding of trends in fern diversification and evolution using only palaeobotanical evidence is hindered by the poor taxonomic resolution of the fern fossil record in the Cretaceous. Here we report divergence time estimates for ferns and angiosperms based on molecular data, with constraints from a reassessment of the fossil record. We show that polypod ferns (> 80% of living fern species) diversified in the Cretaceous, after angiosperms, suggesting perhaps an ecological opportunistic response to the diversification of angiosperms, as angiosperms came to dominate terrestrial ecosystems.

Subfields: Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics, Molecular Biology

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/1f957885a1358ed45f0e0948908db883b26358cf

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In Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics

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Citations in the corpus

Endophytic fungi in forest trees: are they mutualists? (2007, methodology): “Divergence of angiosperms and gymnosperms was estimated to have occurred about 300 Ma ago based on molecular data (Schneider et al. 2004), and Diaporthalean and Helotialean ascomycetes were estimated to have diverged at the same time (Fig 1) (Berbee & Taylor 2001; James et al. 2006).”
Ferns in an Angiosperm World: Cretaceous Radiation into the Epiphytic Niche and Diversification on the Forest Floor (2012, background): “Some have asserted that the rise of angiosperms created a darker understory and altered global rainfall regimes (Schneider et al. 2004).”
Ecology of Leaf Longevity (2011, background): “The extant ferns trace their ancestry to the early Paleozoic but their current diversity to an adaptive radiation in the early Tertiary (Schneider et al. 2004).”
Diversity patterns of vascular epiphytes along an elevational gradient in the Andes (2005, background): “At least in the case of the latter group, this may be explained by the presence of a particularly sensitive photoreceptor that enables ferns to thrive under low light conditions (Schneider et al., 2004a).”
A fossil‐calibrated relaxed clock for Ephedra indicates an Oligocene age for the divergence of Asian and New World clades and Miocene dispersal into South America (2009, background): “Estimates for the Gnetales crown group range from 120–131 mya (relaxed clock; Ickert-Bond & Wojciechowski, 2002) to 189 mya (relaxed clock; Schneider et al., 2004).”
A community‐derived classification for extant lycophytes and ferns (2016, background): “Monophyletic (Schneider et al., 2004a).”
Phylogenic diversity of fungal endophytes in Spanish stands of Pinus halepensis (2011, positive): “Thus, Leotiomycetes has been designated as the predominant class within gymnosperms and in particular, order Helotiales constitutes the closest taxon from an evolutive point of view (Berbee and Taylor 2001; Scheneider et al. 2004).”
Spatial patterns and climate relationships of major plant traits in the New World differ between woody and herbaceous species (2018, background): “In particular, the microclimate perceived by understorey herbaceous communities is not captured by macroclimate variables (Schneider et al., 2004).”
A metacalibrated time-tree documents the early rise of flowering plant phylogenetic diversity. (2015, background): “Many biological lineages have flourished in association with angiosperms, or the biomes they created, depending on them for food, shelter, or symbiotic partnering (e.g. Wikstr€om & Kenrick, 2001; Schneider et al., 2004; McKenna et al., 2009; Cardinal & Danforth, 2013).”
Mountains, climate and niche heterogeneity explain global patterns of fern diversity (2021, background): “Although the origin of the fern lineage dates to the Devonian, much of the extant diversity accrued relatively recently (Schneider et al., 2004).”
Vertical stratification of vascular epiphytes in submontane and montane forest of the Bolivian Andes: the importance of the understory (2007, background): “According to Schneider et al. (2004a), diversification of Asplenium and other derived fern clades may have been triggered by the evolution of a highly sensitive photoreceptor that enables these plants to survive in the shady forest interior.”