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Florschuetziella scaberrima (Broth.) Vitt, previously known only from the type material collected in 1915 from Yunnan, China, was rediscovered nearly a century later in 2005. The species is morphologically indistinguishable from the Mexican endemic F. steerei Vitt, but given the paucity of material the two are provisionally retained as distinct, allopatric species. Both species exhibit traits reminiscent of Leratia neocaledonica Broth. & Paris, a species endemic to New Caledonia. A shared ancestry with the other species currently accommodated in Leratia Broth. & Paris, i.e., L. exigua (Sull.) Goffinet and L. obtusifolia (Hook.) Goffinet, and the phylogenetically nested position of Florschuetziella Vitt within Leratia supports the merger of the two generic names, and hence the transfer of species of Florschuetziella, prompting the proposed new combinations Leratia steerei (Vitt) Goffinet, S.He & Shevock and Leratia scaberrima (Broth.) Goffinet, S.He & Shevock.

Since the 1970s, an apomictic tetraploid beech fern (genus Phegopteris (C. Presl) Fée) has been known in northeastern North America. Previously published isozyme data suggest that this lineage is of allopolyploid origin involving long beech fern (P. connectilis (Michx.) Watt.) but not broad beech fern (P. hexagonoptera (Michx.) Fée), as originally hypothesized. Its second progenitor remains unknown. We performed a principal components analysis of the apomict and its North American congeners to elucidate morphological differences between them. We recognize the apomictic tetraploid at specific rank as P. excelsior N. R. Patel & A. V. Gilman and provide an illustration, a range map, a list of exsiccatae, and a key to Phegopteris species of North America.

Premise of research. Spores and pollen often exhibit distinctive morphology, resulting from the structure of the exine (spore wall), and elaborate external ornamentation, known as perine. Spore-dis...

Karyotypic diversity is critical to catalyzing change in the evolution of all plants. By resulting in meiotic incompatibility among sets of homologous chromosomes, polyploidy and aneuploidy may facilitate reproductive isolation and the potential for speciation. Across plants, karyotypic variants in the form of allopolyploids receive greater taxonomic attention relative to autopolyploids and aneuploids. In particular, the prevalence and significance of autopolyploidy and aneuploidy in bryophytes is little understood. Using Fritsch’s 1991 compendium of bryophyte karyotypes with augmentation from karyological studies published since, we have quantified the prevalence of karyotypic variants among ~1500 extant morphological species of mosses. We assessed the phylogenetic distribution of karyological data, the frequency of autopolyploidy and aneuploidy, and the methodological correlates with karyotypic diversity. At least two ploidy levels were recorded from 17% of species potentially increasing current taxonomic diversity of mosses to over 15,000 species. We find that for a given species, the number of unique karyotypes recorded is correlated with the number of populations sampled. The evidence suggests that cytological diversity likely underlies yet undescribed species diversity in mosses, and that intensive karyological sampling is a needed tool for its discovery.

Mosses comprise one of three lineages forming a sister group to extant vascular plants. Having emerged from an early split in the diversification of embryophytes, mosses may offer complementary insights into the evolution of traits following the transition to, and colonization of, land. Here, we report the draft nuclear genome of Fontinalis antipyretica (Fontinalaceae, Hypnales), a charismatic aquatic moss that is widespread in temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. We sequenced and de novo-assembled its genome using the 10X Genomics method. The genome comprises 385.2 Mbp, with a scaffold N50 of 45.8 Kbp. The assembly captured 87.2% of the 430 genes in the BUSCO Viridiplantae odb10 dataset. The newly generated F. antipyretica genome is the third moss genome, and the second seedless aquatic plant genome, to be sequenced and assembled to date.

ObjectiveTo determine whether prostate artery embolization (PAE) is a cost-effective alternative to transurethral resection of the prostate (TURP) in the management of benign prostate hyperplasia (BPH) after 1-year follow-up.Design, setting and main outcome measuresA retrospective cost-utility analysis over a 12-month time period was conducted to compare the two interventions from a National Health Service perspective. Effectiveness was measured as quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) derived from data collected during the observational UK Register of Prostate Embolisation (UK-ROPE) Study. Costs for both PAE and TURP were derived from University Hospital Southampton, a tertiary referral centre for BPH and the largest contributor to the UK-ROPE. An incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) was derived from cost and QALY values associated with both interventions to assess the cost-effectiveness of PAE versus TURP. Further sensitivity analyses involved a decision tree model to account for the impact of patient-reported complications on the cost-effectiveness of the interventions.ResultsThe mean patient age for TURP (n=31) and PAE (n=133) was 69 and 65.6 years, respectively. In comparison to TURP, PAE was cheaper due to shorter patient stays and the lack of necessity for an operating theatre. Analysis revealed an ICER of £64 798.10 saved per QALY lost when comparing PAE to TURP after 1-year follow-up.ConclusionOur findings suggest that PAE is initially a cost-effective alternative to TURP for the management of BPH after 1-year follow-up. Due to a higher reintervention rate in the PAE group, this benefit may be lost in subsequent years.Trial registration numberNCT02434575.

Premise of the studyNew sequencing technologies enable the possibility of generating large-scale molecular datasets for constructing the plant tree of life. We describe a new probe set for target enrichment sequencing to generate nuclear sequence data to build phylogenetic trees with any flagellate plants, comprising hornworts, liverworts, mosses, lycophytes, ferns, and gymnosperms.Methods and ResultsWe leveraged existing transcriptome and genome sequence data to design a set of 56,989 probes for target enrichment sequencing of 451 nuclear exons and non-coding flanking regions across flagellate plant lineages. We describe the performance of target enrichment using the probe set across flagellate plants and demonstrate the potential of the data to resolve relationships among both ancient and closely related taxa.ConclusionsA target enrichment approach using the new probe set provides a relatively low-cost solution to obtain large-scale nuclear sequence data for inferring phylogenetic relationships across flagellate plants.

BackgroundMosses compose one of the three lineages that form the sister group to extant vascular plants. Having emerged from an early split in the diversification of embryophytes, mosses may offer complementary insights into the evolution of traits following the transition to and colonization of land. Here, we report the draft nuclear genome of Fontinalis antipyretica (Fontinalaceae, Hypnales), a charismatic aquatic moss widespread in temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. We sequenced and de novo assembled its genome using the 10 × genomics method. The genome comprises 486.3 Mb, with a scaffold N50 of 38.8 kb. The assembly captured 89.4% of the 303 genes in the BUSCO eukaryote dataset. The newly generated F. antipyretica genome is the third genome of mosses, and the second genome for a seedless aquatic plant.

Premise In the ferns, cell size has been explored with spores, which are largely uniform within species, produced in abundance, and durable. However, spore size and shape have been variously defined, and the relationship of these traits to genome size has not been well established. Here, we explore the variation in fern spore size and shape by ploidy level and genome size. Methods Measurements of spore dimensions for two study sets of ferns, Polystichum and Adiantum, both including diploid and tetraploid taxa, provided the basis for computing estimates of shape and size as defined here. These traits were compared between and within ploidy levels and regressed with genome size estimates from flow cytometry analysis. Results All size traits were strongly correlated with genome size; the shape trait was weakly correlated. Tetraploids were larger than diploids as expected; the spores of some closely related diploid species were also significantly different in size. Discussion Researchers with access to a student‐grade compound microscope can develop a valid estimate of relative genome size for ferns. These estimates provide enough resolution to infer ploidy level and explore the relationship between genome size, habitat, and physiological constraints for species within ploidy level.

Social Media Health Influencers (SMHIs) can be defined at the most basic level as those who influence their followers’ perspectives by posting online health-related content. SMHI followers are individuals who watch, take advice from or subscribe to an SMHI. This study aimed to investigate SMHIs’ effect on their followers and explore the responsibilities of SMHIs in the online space and their capacity to enhance health education. Primary data collection involved surveying individuals to understand the effect of SMHIs. Furthermore, the research team launched the National Collaborative for Health and Social Media (NCHSM), which aims to facilitate future research and raise awareness about issues surrounding social media and health. The NCHSM hosted ‘#InfluenceMe: The Responsibility of Online Social Power in Wellbeing’, where a panel of SMHIs discussed the challenges of operating responsibly on social media. Of the sample surveyed (n=206), 68 participants were identified as SMHI followers. 63% of SMHI followers reported changing a decision or action due to SMHIs, suggesting SMHIs may influence followers’ health-related decisions or actions. Key differences between followers that changed behaviours based on SMHI advice and those that did not, included the number of SMHIs followed and how often health content was viewed. Followers were also keen for healthcare organisations to use SMHIs in health education. However, the #InfluenceMe event suggested that healthcare leaders (e.g. senior Healthcare Professionals) are needed to verify SMHIs and ensure their social media content is accurate. SMHIs appear to have an impact on their followers’ behaviours. In order to elicit positive behaviour changes in followers, SMHIs must create accurate content and act responsibly online. Healthcare leaders have the potential to verify SMHIs so that their involvement in health education is optimal. Healthcare leaders themselves also have potential to act as SMHIs in today’s digital age.

UNLABELLED • PREMISE OF THE STUDY Island plants are over-exploited and "under-explored." Understanding the reproductive biology of plants, especially rare species, is fundamental to clarifying their evolution, estimating potential for change, and for creating effective conservation plans. Clarification of sexual systems like dioecy, and unusual manifestations of it in specific studies within Solanum, helps elucidate evolutionary patterns and genetic and ecological control of sex expression.• METHODS Studies of reproductive systems of two Caribbean endemics, S. polygamum and S. conocarpum, combined multifaceted analyses of field populations and of multiple generations of greenhouse plants.• KEY RESULTS The dioecy in both species is, like that in other solanums, largely cryptic, although the gender of S. polygamum flowers is obvious. The rare S. conocarpum is recognized as dioecious; floral gender is not obvious. Variation in sex expression facilitated experiments and promoted hypotheses on control and significance of morphological features and sex expression.• CONCLUSIONS Confirmed dioecy in at least 15 solanums is distributed across the genus, with perhaps 6 independent origins, and with crypticity in the form of morphologically hermaphroditic, but functionally unisexual, flowers characterizing all species. Dioecy is not more strongly associated with islands. Inaperturate pollen in pistillate flowers characterizes almost all, but not the two dioecious species studied herein. Dioecy in both species indicates leakiness (rare hermaphroditic flowers on male plants) that helps explain island colonization and radiation. Leakiness allowed confirmation-usually impossible for dioecious species-of self-compatibility for S. polygamum, and thus support for the hypothesis that dioecy evolved to promote outcrossing.

What are the ecological consequences of allopolyploid speciation in ferns? In northeastern North America, this question is relevant to the Adiantum pedatum complex. Adiantum viridimontanum (Green Mountain maidenhair fern) is an allotetraploid hybrid derived from a sterile cross between the serpentine-restricted diploid species A. aleuticum (Aleutian maidenhair fern) and the rich-woods diploid species A. pedatum (northern maidenhair fern). In this study, we characterized the ecological niche of the allotetraploid hybrid maidenhair fern relative to the niches of its two progenitors by establishing 48 survey plots at 13 sites where the three species occur in Vermont and by measuring a set of ecological attributes in each plot, including the habitat type, light availability, topography, substrate characteristics, and soil chemistry. These data were analyzed using principal component analysis (PCA) to characterize the multivariate ecological niche of each species as circumscribed by the position of survey plots in environmental space. Along the first principal component, the ecological niche of the allotetraploid was situated between those of its progenitors in environmental space, closely overlapping the niche of A. aleuticum and slightly overlapping that of A. pedatum. Along the second principal component, a portion of the ecological niche of the allotetraploid was transgressive relative to the niches of its progenitors in environmental space; in geographic space, these survey plots correspond to northern hardwood serpentine-influenced forests, a habitat type that is novel for the species complex. Thus, the ecological outcome of allopolyploid speciation in the A. pedatum complex appears to include elements of both niche intermediacy and niche expansion into novel habitats.

•Island plants are over-exploited and "under-explored." Understanding the reproductive biology of plants, especially rare species, is fundamental to clarifying their evolution, estimating potential for change, and for creating effective conservation plans. Clarification of sexual systems like dioecy, and unusual manifestations of it in specific studies within Solanum, helps elucidate evolutionary patterns and genetic and ecological control of sex expression.•Studies of reproductive systems of two Caribbean endemics, S. polygamum and S. conocarpum, combined multifaceted analyses of field populations and of multiple generations of greenhouse plants.•The dioecy in both species is, like that in other solanums, largely cryptic, although the gender of S. polygamum flowers is obvious. The rare S. conocarpum is recognized as dioecious; floral gender is not obvious. Variation in sex expression facilitated experiments and promoted hypotheses on control and significance of morphological features and sex expression.•Confirmed dioecy in at least 15 solanums is distributed across the genus, with perhaps 6 independent origins, and with crypticity in the form of morphologically hermaphroditic, but functionally unisexual, flowers characterizing all species. Dioecy is not more strongly associated with islands. Inaperturate pollen in pistillate flowers characterizes almost all, but not the two dioecious species studied herein. Dioecy in both species indicates leakiness (rare hermaphroditic flowers on male plants) that helps explain island colonization and radiation. Leakiness allowed confirmation-usually impossible for dioecious species-of self-compatibility for S. polygamum, and thus support for the hypothesis that dioecy evolved to promote outcrossing.

A new fern species, Polystichum clarinervium, a member of P. subg. Haplopolystichum (Dryopteridaceae), is described and illustrated from Emei shan, Sichuan Province, Southwest China. The new species is similar to P. deltodon, but the former has pinnae slightly imbricate, pinna apex rounded, and veins clear, while the latter has pinnae not imbricate, pinna apex acute, and veins obscured. Polystichum clarinervium was found on a limestone slope under sparse forest at an elevation of 1300 m and is currently known from two small populations. It is classified as Critically Endangered (CR) following IUCN Red List criteria.