A 23-million-year record of morphological evolution within Neotropical grass pollen

Wei, C.; Li, M.; Mao, L.; Mander, L.; Jardine, P.E.; Gosling, W.D.; Hoorn, C.

Research article (journal) | Peer reviewed

Abstract

Grass-dominated biomes in South America comprise c. 20 million years of history, yet their evolution and underlying drivers remain poorly understood. Here we apply a novel approach that combines scanning electron microscopy imaging with computational analysis to quantify the morphometrics of grass (Poaceae) pollen micro-ornamentation from the Neotropics since the Early Miocene (23 million years ago). Three spatial–temporal pollen sets were assembled to further elucidate the variation and evolutionary traits of grasses through space and time. Our results reveals that three spatial–temporal pollen groups occupy unique, partially overlapping regions of their exine morphospace. The direction of this shift is consistent over time, progressing towards less dense ornamentation. Interestingly, the extent of the occupied morphospace did not vary significantly. This is the first time that the true morphological variation in Poaceae pollen micro-ornamentation becomes apparent through time. We hypothesize that changes in grass pollen exine since the Early Miocene were driven by evolutionary processes (evolutionary drift and/or directional selection), and potentially migration at the continental scale. The high diversity in pollen micro-ornamentation is likely related to their evolutionary success in the Neogene.

Details about the publication

JournalNew Phytologist
Volume246
Page range365-376
StatusPublished
Release year2025
Language in which the publication is writtenEnglish
DOI10.1111/nph.20214
Keywordsevolution; morphospace; Neogene; pollen diversity; quantitative image analysis

Authors from the University of Münster

Jardine, Phillip
Professorship of fossil botany (Prof. Bomfleur)