Abstract

GRADSTEIN, Robbert; VANDERPOORTEN, Alain; VAN REENEN, Guido  and  CLEEF, Antoine. Mass occurrence of the liverwort Herbertus sendtneri in a glacial lake in the Andes of Colombia. Rev. acad. colomb. cienc. exact. fis. nat. [online]. 2018, vol.42, n.164, pp.221-229. ISSN 0370-3908.  https://doi.org/10.18257/raccefyn.666.

Many bryophytes grow in the Tropics in periodically inundated habitats such as river beds, marshes and waterfalls, but permanently submerged bryophytes are rare and are mainly found in high-altitude lakes. Their identification can be difficult due to modification of morphological traits induced by the aquatic environment. Here we deal with a submerged population of the liverwort genus Herbertus from a glacial lake at 4120 m the Sierra Nevada del Cocuy, Colombia. The aquatic plants, which stand out by dwarf statue and obtuse leaf tips, had been identified as H. oblongifolius, a rare taxon described from Brazil and recently placed in synonymy of the widespread and variable H. sendtneri based on morphology. Molecular analysis confirmed that the aquatic plants belong to H. sendtneri. The resemblance of the aquatic plants to small branches of H. sendtneri suggests that they might represent a juvenile phenotype. The aquatic plants probably originated from a rock-inhabiting population, which dispersed into the lake by means of vegetative reproduction via caducous branches or became washed into the lake. The dispersal event should have occurred during the last 12.000-21.000 years when the lake was ice-free.

Keywords : Aquatic bryophytes; Herbertaceae; Neotropics; Molecular phylogeny; Phenotypic plasticity; Sierra Nevada del Cocuy.

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