title: Extant diversity of bryophytes emerged from successive post-Mesozoic diversification bursts.
abstract: Unraveling the macroevolutionary history of bryophytes, which arose soon after the origin of land plants but exhibit substantially lower species richness than the more recently derived angiosperms, has been challenged by the scarce fossil record. Here we demonstrate that overall estimates of net species diversification are approximately half those reported in ferns and ∼30% those described for angiosperms. Nevertheless, statistical rate analyses on time-calibrated large-scale phylogenies reveal that mosses and liverworts underwent bursts of diversification since the mid-Mesozoic. The diversification rates further increase in specific lineages towards the Cenozoic to reach, in the most recently derived lineages, values that are comparable to those reported in angiosperms. This suggests that low diversification rates do not fully account for current patterns of bryophyte species richness, and we hypothesize that, as in gymnosperms, the low extant bryophyte species richness also results from massive extinctions.
authors.affiliation: 1] Department of Conservation Biology and Evolution, Institute of Botany, University of Liège, Liège 4000, Belgium [2] Institut für Systematische Botanik, University of Zürich, Zürich 8008, Switzerland.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Laenen
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina 27708, USA.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Shaw
authors.affiliation: Department of Life Sciences, Natural History Museum of London, London SW7 BD, UK.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Schneider
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Connecticut, Storrs, Connecticut 06269, USA.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Goffinet
authors.affiliation: Institut des Sciences de l'Évolution, Université Montpellier 2-CNRS-IRD, Place Eugène Bataillon-CC 065, Montpellier cédex 05 34095, France.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Paradis
authors.affiliation: 1] Department of Conservation Biology and Evolution, Institute of Botany, University of Liège, Liège 4000, Belgium [2] Institut für Systematische Botanik, University of Zürich, Zürich 8008, Switzerland.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Désamoré
authors.affiliation: Division of Systematic Botany and Mycology, Department of Biology, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (LMU), Munich, Germany.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Heinrichs
authors.affiliation: Division of Systematic Botany and Mycology, Department of Biology, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (LMU), Munich, Germany.
authors.forename: J C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Villarreal
authors.affiliation: Département de Systématique et Evolution, Museum National d' Histoire Naturelle, Paris 75005, France.
authors.forename: S R
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Gradstein
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 32611 USA.
authors.forename: S F
authors.initials: SF
authors.lastname: McDaniel
authors.affiliation: Royal Botanical Garden Edinburgh, Edinburgh, Scotland EH3 5LR, UK.
authors.forename: D G
authors.initials: DG
authors.lastname: Long
authors.affiliation: Royal Botanical Garden Edinburgh, Edinburgh, Scotland EH3 5LR, UK.
authors.forename: L L
authors.initials: LL
authors.lastname: Forrest
authors.affiliation: Royal Botanical Garden Edinburgh, Edinburgh, Scotland EH3 5LR, UK.
authors.forename: M L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Hollingsworth
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Biology, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, Illinois 62901 USA.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Crandall-Stotler
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 32611 USA.
authors.forename: E C
authors.initials: EC
authors.lastname: Davis
authors.affiliation: Field Museum, Chicago, Illinois 60605-2496, USA.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Engel
authors.affiliation: Field Museum, Chicago, Illinois 60605-2496, USA.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Von Konrat
authors.affiliation: Department of Cell Biology and Molecular Genetics, University of Maryland, 2108 Biosciences Research Building, College Park, Maryland 20742, USA.
authors.forename: E D
authors.initials: ED
authors.lastname: Cooper
authors.affiliation: Department of Conservation Biology and Evolution, Institute of Botany, University of Liège, Liège 4000, Belgium.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Patiño
authors.affiliation: Centro de Cincias do Mar (CCMAR), Universidade do Algarve, Campus de Gambelas, Faro 8005-139, Portugal.
authors.forename: C J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Cox
authors.affiliation: Department of Conservation Biology and Evolution, Institute of Botany, University of Liège, Liège 4000, Belgium.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Vanderpoorten
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina 27708, USA.
authors.forename: A J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Shaw