Abstract Detail

Systematics Section/ASPT

Drew, Bryan T [1], Ruhfel, Brad [2], Smith, Stephen A. [3], Moore, Michael [4], Briggs, Barbara [5], Soltis, Pamela [6], Soltis, Douglas [7].

Does the evidence really support an ‘Amborella-sister’ hypothesis for flowering plants?

During the past 15 years numerous studies have indicated that Amborella trichopoda, a monotypic genus endemic to New Caledonia, is sister to all other extant flowering plants. Although this general consensus has emerged regarding the placement of Amborella, the “Amborella-sister” hypothesis is not universally accepted. Indeed, some studies have suggested that Nymphaeales may in fact be sister to all remaining extant angiosperms, and that the first flowering plants were likely aquatic. Using a wide range of data sets and analytical approaches, we re-examine the relationships among basal angiosperms, and also reexamine the related question regarding the likely habitat of the earliest flowering plants. Based on evidence from a suite of data sets, including one of the largest plastid data sets yet assembled, we conclude that the vast majority of phylogenetic evidence supports the hypothesis that Amborella trichopoda is sister to all other extant angiosperms. Furthermore, based on our current understanding of angiosperm phylogenetics, we assert that the ancestral habitat of the first angiosperm lineages remains equivocal regardless of the placement of Amborella and Nymphaeales in angiosperm phylogeny.

Broader Impacts:

1 - University of Florida, Biology, Gainesville, FL, 32611, USA
2 - Eastern Kentucky University, Department of Biological Sciences, 521 Lancaster Avenue, Moore Building, Rm 349, Richmond, KY, 40475, USA
3 - University of Michigan
4 - Oberlin College, 119 Woodland St., Science Center K111, Oberlin, OH, 44074, USA
5 - Royal Botanic Gardens, MRS MACQUARIES ROAD, Sydney, NSW, 2000, Australia
6 - University of Florida, Florida Museum of Natural History, PO BOX 117800, Gainesville, FL, 32611-7800, USA
7 - University of Florida, Department of Botany, 220 BARTRAM HALL, Gainesville, FL, 32611, USA

Keywords:
Amborella
Angiosperms
New Caledonia.

Presentation Type: Oral Paper:Papers for Sections
Session: 37
Location: Belle-Chasse/Riverside Hilton
Date: Wednesday, July 31st, 2013
Time: 8:45 AM
Number: 37002
Abstract ID:179
Candidate for Awards:George R. Cooley Award