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2 Tristan Da Cunha Archipelago Univerzita Karlova v Praze Přírodovědecká fakulta Studijní program: Biologie Studijní obor: Ekologická a evoluční biologie PETRA VINŠOVÁ The biogeographical position of the Tristan da Cunha archipelago based on floristic records. Biogeografická pozice souostroví Tristan da Cunha z pohledu floristických studií. BAKALÁŘSKÁ PRÁCE Školitel: Mgr. Kateřina Kopalová, Ph.D. Praha, 2014 Prohlašuji, že jsem závěrečnou práci zpracovala samostatně a že jsem uvedla všechny použité informační zdroje a literaturu. Tato práce ani její podstatná část nebyla předložena k získání jiného nebo stejného akademického titulu. V Praze, 13.5.2014 Podpis ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First of all, I would like to thank my family for supporting me during my studies and during the work on bachelor thesis. Furthermore, I would like to thank my supervisor Kateřina Kopalová, for her help with literature search, help with writing my thesis and also for showing me an interesting world of diatoms and the many opportunities students have nowadays. My gratitude also belongs to Bart Van de Vijver, who was like an external supervisor for me, for his help with searching for old literature, invaluable insight about the topic and also for correcting my texts. Many thanks also go to my friends and to my boyfriend, for their tolerance and moral support. ABSTRAKT Souostroví Tristan da Cunha je jedním z nejméně porušených temperátních ostrovů světa, s mnoha druhy endemické flory a fauny, nacházející se v Jižním Atlantickém oceánu, přibližně uprostřed mezi Jižní Amerikou a nejjižnějším výběžkem Jižní Afriky. Ačkoliv se jedná o tak zajímavou lokalitu, v mnoha směrech zůstává stále neprobádanou. Bakalářská práce představuje souhrn veškeré dostupné literatury o bezcévných rostlinách vyskytujících se na zmíněném souostroví. Jedná se o značně diversifikované skupiny, přesto vědci mnohdy přehlížené. V rámci bakalářské práce je vytvořen list jednotlivých zástupců. Nakonec je diskutována schopnost bezcévných rostlin se šířit na dlouhé vzdálenosti, jakožto i charakter jejich rozšíření. KLÍČOVÁ SLOVA: Tristan da Cunha; oceánské ostrovy; botanika; distribuce; ostrovní biogeografie; lišejníky; mechy; játrovky; hlevíky; rozsivky; ABSTRACT The archipelago Tristan da Cunha is situated in the South Atlantic Ocean, about midway between South America and southern tip of Africa. It represents one of the least disturbed temperate island systems in the world, supports many endemic plant and animal species. Although the locality is interesting by many aspects, many fields still remain under-studied. This bachelor thesis presents a synthesis of available literature about the archipelagos non-marine non-vascular floras, which are of a great diversity, but mostly still overlooked by scientist. For some of them were made lists of taxa present. Further, the distributional ability and patterns of this plant groups are discussed. KEYWORDS: Tristan da Cunha; Oceanic islands; Botanic; Distribution; Island Biogeography; Lichens; Mosses; Liverworts and Hornworts; Diatoms; CONTENTS 1 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................................ 1 Island biogeography ......................................................................................................................... 2 History highlights ............................................................................................................................. 5 Objectives and importance of the study .......................................................................................... 7 2 TRISTAN DA CUNHA ARCHIPELAGO ............................................................................................................ 8 Geology: origin and structure .......................................................................................................... 8 Climate ............................................................................................................................................. 9 Habitat types .................................................................................................................................. 10 3 FLORISTIC RECORDS ................................................................................................................................... 13 Lichens ............................................................................................................................................ 13 Bryophytes ..................................................................................................................................... 15 Mosses (Musci) .................................................................................................................. 15 Livervorts (Hepaticae) and Hornworts (Anthocerotae) ..................................................... 18 Algae .............................................................................................................................................. 19 Diatoms (Bacillariophyta).................................................................................................. 20 4 DISCUSSION ............................................................................................................................................... 22 Lichens ............................................................................................................................................ 22 Mosses ........................................................................................................................................... 23 Liverworts and Hornworts .............................................................................................................. 24 Diatoms .......................................................................................................................................... 25 5 CONCLUSION .............................................................................................................................................. 27 6 REFERENCES ............................................................................................................................................... 28 7 APPENDICES ............................................................................................................................................... 33 1 INTRODUCTION From the very beginning scientists from all over the world were fascinated by the unique nature of remote oceanic islands, especially since Charles Darwin’s work on the Galapagos Islands. These young oceanic islands of volcanic origin are summits of large volcanoes that rose from the bottom of the oceans. They are isolated from other lands by many miles of deep sea and have never been connected to continental landmasses. Their environment is truly unique as everything is fundamentally a product of trans-oceanic dispersal (Wace & Holdgate 1976; Cowie & Holland 2006) and eventually subsequent speciation. Generally, the oceanic islands lack indigenous land mammals and amphibians, but typically have many of birds and insects, and occasionally also some reptiles. They provide us with a suite of natural laboratories, from which the discerning natural scientist can make a selection that simplifies the complexity of the natural world (Whittaker & Fernandez-Palacios 2007). The Tristan da Cunha group along with Gough Island are not only known because of their remoteness, but also because of the limited human impact, as 44% of the group’s land area has been set aside as permanent nature reserve, making it one of the least disturbed temperate island systems in the world (Ryan et al. 2007). Wace (1965) reported that although the Tristan da Cunha archipelago is a remote one, its biota is significantly diverse ecologically with a substantial native flora and fauna in which the pre-human ecological status quo is still largely preserved. Two of four island, Gough and Inaccessible Island, were inscribed as UNESCO World Heritage Sites in 1995 (under criteria vii, x) but there is still only a limited awareness of the global importance of this area, the rich species diversity they contain and of the threats they face (Ryan et al. 2007). The island group supports many endemic species, some of which are globally threatened with extinction. A constant threat for an island’s biota is the introduction of non-native species. Alien plant species can be found on all islands of the archipelago, especially on the main island Tristan da Cunha (or ‘Tristan’), which is also the most remote inhabited island on the world, with a permanent population of some 270 people who lives in the settlement Edinburgh of the Seven Seas. The three outer islands (Inaccessible, Nightingale and Gough) remain in a largely undisturbed state, despite the presence of a number of introduced species. They are, however, constantly at risk of introduction of new species as a result of visits by tourists, scientists and Tristan islanders (Gremmen & Halbertsma 2009). 1 ISLAND BIOGEOGRAPHY Biogeography deals with distribution of species through geological time and in geographical space. Many gradients are involved (e.g., latitude, area, soil, age, isolation etc.) resulting in biogeography as a multidisciplinary domain of many different areas of science – such as evolution, geology, taxonomy, ecology, climatology and palaeontology (Cox & Moore 2010). The tasks of biogeography are briefly, which species, where and why (or why not?) as was clearly stated by Quammen (1996). However,
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