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Molecular phylogenetics of the Brazilian giant bromeliads (Alcantarea, Bromeliaceae): implications for morphological evolution and biogeography

  • Versieux, Leonardo M. Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, Departamento de Botânica, Ecologia e Zoologia, Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil
  • Barbará, Thelma Jodrell Laboratory, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Richmond, UK -
  • Wanderley, Maria das Graças Lapa Instituto de Botânica, Seção de Curadoria do Herbário, São Paulo, Brazil
  • Calvente, Alice Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, Departamento de Botânica, Ecologia e Zoologia, Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil
  • Fay, Michael F. Jodrell Laboratory, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Richmond, UK
  • Lexer, Christian Jodrell Laboratory, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Richmond, UK
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    02.04.2012
Published in:
  • Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. - 2012, vol. 64, no. 1, p. 177-189
Alcantarea
Atlantic rainforest
Floricaula Leafy
Hybridization
Inselbergs
Microsatellites
Radiation
Tillandsioideae
Vriesea
English The genus Alcantarea comprises near 30 species endemic to rocky outcrops from eastern Brazil. Most species are ornamental and several are threatened due to habitat loss and over collection. In this paper we examine the phylogenetics of Alcantarea and its relationship with the Brazilian members of Vriesea, a genus of which Alcantarea has been treated as a subgenus. We discuss the morphological evolution of the stamen position and its implication for pollination and the occurrence of Alcantarea in the Espinhaço mountain range rocky savanna-like habitat vegetation. DNA sequence data derived from two plastid markers (trnK-rps16, trnC-petN) and from a low copy nuclear gene (Floricaula/Leafy) together with 20 nuclear microsatellite loci were the data source to perform analyses and construct phylogenetic and Neighbor Joining trees for the genus. Alcantarea is well supported as monophyletic in both Bayesian and parsimony analyses, but sections of Vriesea, represented by the eastern Brazilian species, appear paraphyletic. Microsatellites delimit geographically isolated species groups. Nevertheless individuals belonging to a single species may appear related to distinct clusters of species, suggesting that hybridization and/or homoplasy and/or incomplete lineage sorting are also influencing the analysis based on such markers and may be the reasons for some unexpected results. Alcantarea brasiliana is hypothesized as putative hybrid between A. imperialis and A. geniculata. Spreading stamens, a morphological floral characteristic assumed to be related to Chiropterophily, apparently evolved multiple times within the genus, and invasion of rocky savanna-like habitat vegetation by Atlantic rainforest ancestors seems to have occurred multiple times as well.
Faculty
Faculté des sciences et de médecine
Department
Département de Biologie
Language
  • English
Classification
Botany
License
License undefined
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Persistent URL
https://folia.unifr.ch/unifr/documents/302329
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