Harsh environmental conditions promote cooperative behavior in an epiphytic fern

Harsh, unpredictable environments are known to favor cooperative groups in animals. Whether plants exhibit similar relationships is unknown. Staghorn ferns (Platycerium bifurcatum, Polypodiaceae) are epiphytes that form cooperative groups which build communal water and nutrient 'nests' at the tops of trees, a habitat characterized by water and nutrient stress. We conducted field observations to test whether staghorn ferns continue to live in large, reproductively active groups after they become dislodged from the canopy and fall to the forest floor, where they are less limited by water and nutrient deprivation. To rule out the potentially confounding effects of light limitation on the forest floor, we also conducted a multi-year glasshouse experiment where we transplanted individual plants into soil and onto vertically oriented boards under standardized light conditions. Results from field observations showed that dislodged colonies formed smaller groups that reproduced less than epiphytic colonies. Results from the glasshouse experiment showed that even when growing in full sun, terrestrial individuals tended to remain solitary, while epiphytic individuals tended to recruit new individuals into colonies. Results also showed that plants growing in potting soil and exposed to full sunlight sporulated more heavily than plants growing epiphytically. However, localities that are characterized by both elevated soil and light resources are generally not available to staghorn ferns in the wild, perhaps with the exception of large, epiphytic colonies with well-developed nests at the top of tree canopies. Overall results indicate that the harsh environmental conditions at the tops of trees trigger the formation of colonies in staghorn ferns, similarly to group living animals.

A plastid phylogeny and character evolution of the Old World fern genus Pyrrosia (Polypodiaceae) with the description of a new genus: Hovenkampia (Polypodiaceae)

The Old World fern genus Pyrrosia (Polypodiaceae) offers a rare system in ferns to study morphological evolution because almost all species of this genus are well studied for their morphology, anatomy, and spore features, and various hypotheses have been proposed in terms of the phylogeny and evolution in this genus. However, the molecular phylogeny of the genus lags behind. The monophyly of the genus has been uncertain and a modern phylogenetic study of the genus based on molecular data has been lacking. In the present study, DNA sequences of five plastid markers of 220 accessions of Polypodiaceae representing two species of Drymoglossum, 14 species of Platycerium, 50 species of Pyrrosia, and the only species of Saxiglossum (subfamily Platycerioideae), and 12 species of other Polypodiaceae representing the remaining four subfamilies are used to infer a phylogeny of the genus. Major results and conclusions of this study include: (1) Pyrrosia as currently circumscribed is paraphyletic in relation to Platycerium and can be divided into two genera: Pyrrosia s.s. and Hovenkampia (gen. nov.), with Hovenkampia and Platycerium forming a strongly supported clade sister to Pyrrosia s.s.; (2) Subfamily Platycerioideae should contain three genera only, Hovenkampia, Platycerium, and Pyrrosia s.s.; (3) Based on the molecular phylogeny, macromorphology, anatomical features, and spore morphology, four major clades in the genus are identified and three of the four are further resolved into four, four, and six subclades, respectively; (4) Three species, P. angustissima, P. foveolata, and P. mannii, not assigned to any groups by Hovenkamp (1986) because of their unusual morphology, each form monospecific clades; (5) Drymoglossum is not monophyletic and those species previously assigned to this genus are resolved in two different subclades; (6) Saxiglossum is resolved as the first lineage in the Niphopsis clade; and (7) The evolution of ten major morphological characters in the subfamily is inferred based on the phylogeny and various morphological synapomorphies for various clades and subclades are identified.

Micromyzusplatycerii sp. n. (Hemiptera, Aphididae) - a new fern-feeding aphid species from Thailand

A new fern-feeding aphid species, Micromyzusplatycerii, collected in Sakaerat Research Station in Thailand, is described.