Diversity of Secondary Metabolites in the Liverwort Syzygiella rubricaulis (Nees) Stephani (Jamesoniellaceae, Marchantiophyta) from Neotropical High Mountains.

In order to evaluate the chemical diversity of Syzygiella rubricaulis (Nees) Stephani, a species with a disjunct distribution in the neotropical high mountains, a phytochemical study was carried out with samples from 12 different populations of different altitudes from four South American countries. The chemical profiles of lipophilic extracts were analyzed by GC/MS for each population and 50 different compounds were found with the predominance and richness of sesquiterpenes. The majority of the compounds were found only in one population and the total number of substances ranged from 1 to 15 among the populations, but these numbers were not correlated with altitude, and characterize each population as distinct, based on similarity analysis. The qualitative and quantitative variations of metabolites found are a response to different conditions, under which they live, mostly likely altitudinal conditions. Further studies on the quantification of these chemicals may provide information on their ecological roles and importance for the distribution of S. rubricaulis at different altitudes. Despite the known richness of secondary metabolites produced by bryophytes, they are still poorly explored in the context of the ecological expressions.

World checklist of hornworts and liverworts.

A working checklist of accepted taxa worldwide is vital in achieving the goal of developing an online flora of all known plants by 2020 as part of the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation. We here present the first-ever worldwide checklist for liverworts (Marchantiophyta) and hornworts (Anthocerotophyta) that includes 7486 species in 398 genera representing 92 families from the two phyla. The checklist has far reaching implications and applications, including providing a valuable tool for taxonomists and systematists, analyzing phytogeographic and diversity patterns, aiding in the assessment of floristic and taxonomic knowledge, and identifying geographical gaps in our understanding of the global liverwort and hornwort flora. The checklist is derived from a working data set centralizing nomenclature, taxonomy and geography on a global scale. Prior to this effort a lack of centralization has been a major impediment for the study and analysis of species richness, conservation and systematic research at both regional and global scales. The success of this checklist, initiated in 2008, has been underpinned by its community approach involving taxonomic specialists working towards a consensus on taxonomy, nomenclature and distribution.