Science Enabled by Specimen Data
Moore, M. P., K. Hersch, C. Sricharoen, S. Lee, C. Reice, P. Rice, S. Kronick, et al. 2021. Sex-specific ornament evolution is a consistent feature of climatic adaptation across space and time in dragonflies. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 118. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2101458118
Adaptation to different climates fuels the origins and maintenance of biodiversity. Detailing how organisms optimize fitness for their local climates is therefore an essential goal in biology. Although we increasingly understand how survival-related traits evolve as organisms adapt to climatic condi…
Bontrager, M., T. Usui, J. A. Lee‐Yaw, D. N. Anstett, H. A. Branch, A. L. Hargreaves, C. D. Muir, and A. L. Angert. 2021. Adaptation across geographic ranges is consistent with strong selection in marginal climates and legacies of range expansion. Evolution 75: 1316–1333. https://doi.org/10.1111/evo.14231
Every species experiences limits to its geographic distribution. Some evolutionary models predict that populations at range edges are less well‐adapted to their local environments due to drift, expansion load, or swamping gene flow from the range interior. Alternatively, populations near range edges…
Zhang, Y., J. Chen, and H. Sun. 2021. Alpine speciation and morphological innovations: revelations from a species-rich genus in the northern hemisphere N. Rajakaruna [ed.],. AoB PLANTS 13. https://doi.org/10.1093/aobpla/plab018
Background and Aims A large number of studies have attempted to determine the mechanisms driving plant diversity and distribution on a global scale, but the diverse and endemic alpine herbs found in harsh environments, showing adaptive evolution, require more studies. Methods Here, we selected 466 s…
Zanatta, F., R. Engler, F. Collart, O. Broennimann, R. G. Mateo, B. Papp, J. Muñoz, et al. 2020. Bryophytes are predicted to lag behind future climate change despite their high dispersal capacities. Nature Communications 11. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-19410-8
The extent to which species can balance out the loss of suitable habitats due to climate warming by shifting their ranges is an area of controversy. Here, we assess whether highly efficient wind-dispersed organisms like bryophytes can keep-up with projected shifts in their areas of suitable climate.…
Yi, S., C.-P. Jun, K. Jo, H. Lee, M.-S. Kim, S. D. Lee, X. Cao, and J. Lim. 2020. Asynchronous multi-decadal time-scale series of biotic and abiotic responses to precipitation during the last 1300 years. Scientific Reports 10. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-74994-x
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Brightly, W. H., S. E. Hartley, C. P. Osborne, K. J. Simpson, and C. A. E. Strömberg. 2020. High silicon concentrations in grasses are linked to environmental conditions and not associated with C 4 photosynthesis. Global Change Biology 26: 7128–7143. https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.15343
The uptake and deposition of silicon (Si) as silica phytoliths is common among land plants and is associated with a variety of functions. Among these, herbivore defense has received significant attention, particularly with regards to grasses and grasslands. Grasses are well known for their high sili…
van Treuren, R., R. Hoekstra, R. Wehrens, and T. van Hintum. 2020. Effects of climate change on the distribution of crop wild relatives in the Netherlands in relation to conservation status and ecotope variation. Global Ecology and Conservation 23: e01054. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gecco.2020.e01054
Crop wild relatives (CWR) are wild plant taxa that are genetically related to a cultivated species and are considered rich sources of useful traits for crop improvement. CWR are generally underrepresented in genebanks, while their survival in nature is not guaranteed. Inventories and risk analyses a…
Holzmeyer, L., A.-K. Hartig, K. Franke, W. Brandt, A. N. Muellner-Riehl, L. A. Wessjohann, and J. Schnitzler. 2020. Evaluation of plant sources for antiinfective lead compound discovery by correlating phylogenetic, spatial, and bioactivity data. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 117: 12444–12451. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1915277117
Antibiotic resistance and viral diseases are rising around the world and are becoming major threats to global health, food security, and development. One measure that has been suggested to mitigate this crisis is the development of new antibiotics. Here, we provide a comprehensive evaluation of the …
Goodwin, Z. A., P. Muñoz-Rodríguez, D. J. Harris, T. Wells, J. R. I. Wood, D. Filer, and R. W. Scotland. 2020. How long does it take to discover a species? Systematics and Biodiversity 18: 784–793. https://doi.org/10.1080/14772000.2020.1751339
The description of a new species is a key step in cataloguing the World’s flora. However, this is only a preliminary stage in a long process of understanding what that species represents. We investigated how long the species discovery process takes by focusing on three key stages: 1, the collection …
Klages, J. P., U. Salzmann, T. Bickert, C.-D. Hillenbrand, K. Gohl, G. Kuhn, et al. 2020. Temperate rainforests near the South Pole during peak Cretaceous warmth. Nature 580: 81–86. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-020-2148-5
The mid-Cretaceous period was one of the warmest intervals of the past 140 million years1,2,3,4,5, driven by atmospheric carbon dioxide levels of around 1,000 parts per million by volume6. In the near absence of proximal geological records from south of the Antarctic Circle, it is disputed whether p…