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Evidence for interspecific hybridisation in pteridophytes with subterranean mycoparasitic gametophytes

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 December 2011

W. H. Wagner Jr ,
F. S. Wagner  and
Joseph M. Beitel
W. H. Wagner Jr
Affiliation:
The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, U.S.A.
F. S. Wagner
Affiliation:
The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, U.S.A.
Joseph M. Beitel
Affiliation:
Sarah Lawrence College, Bronxville, New York, U.S.A.
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Synopsis

Pteridophytes with subterranean sexual stages exist in five families. Their prothalli grow underground without light, nourished by fungi, and are rounded, massive, and without chlorophyll. Various authors have suggested that such gametophytes may inhibit outbreeding ability and that minor variations may therefore form in colonies through inbreeding.

This paper questions these ideas. The subterranean condition is believed to be suited to fields, grassy meadows, and other habitats subject to seasonal drying. The parenchymatous thallus makes possible water storage. Water can flow between some particles. Sperm may be carried by mass flow in various directions and can evidently swim as much as 2 cm. Close clumping of underground gametophytes appears to be no less common than in surficial gametophytes and evidence exists that hybridisation occurs.

No evidence has been detected that outbreeding is inhibited, and we conclude that it is successful and that cross-fertilisation is no less common among underground gametophytes than among surface gametophytes. Numerous examples are listed from Lycopodiales, Psilotales, and Ophioglossales.

Type
Research Article
Information
Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Section B: Biological Sciences , Volume 86: The Biology of Pteridophytes , 1985 , pp. 273 - 281
Copyright
Copyright © Royal Society of Edinburgh 1985

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