Cryptogamic diversity, biology and conservation on South Atlantic Islands

大洋岛屿（即从未与大陆相连的岛屿）是进化和生物地理过程的天然实验室，也是在大陆环境中理解这些过程的关键。传统上，这些岛屿被视为迁徙的死角，现在人们认为，这些岛屿可能是有效散布物种的“动态避难所”和“迁徙垫脚石”，例如产孢子植物（苔藓、苔类、角苔类、蕨类和石松类，统称为隐孢子植物）。因此，隐花草是了解海洋岛屿生物地理的关键陆生植物；它们是主要的殖民者，因此是追踪生态演替和土壤发展的哨兵生物，与许多开花植物不同，它们几乎都是通过风传播的繁殖体自然到达的，而不是人类引入的。南大西洋群岛包括阿森松岛、圣赫勒拿岛和特里斯坦达库尼亚岛（所有英国海外领土）以及巴西的费尔南多迪诺罗尼亚岛和特林达德岛。我们正在组建一个由英国和巴西科学家组成的团队，他们在这些岛屿上已经有了相当多的工作经验，我们将对这些岛屿的隐生生物多样性和生物地理学进行首次全面研究。这项工作将有助于制定生物多样性行动计划和保护战略，并使人们认识到这些岛屿是监测和了解气候变化影响的关键地点。我们的研究计划将包括广泛的实地工作，结合彻底的分类分析，将对巴西和英属南大西洋岛屿的物种丰富度和多样性进行首次全面评估。主要产出将是五个岛屿的权威物种清单；费尔南多·迪诺罗尼亚的插图植物志，和已经出版的圣赫勒拿岛和阿森松岛植物志一样；通俗文章，提高公众意识；在同行评议的期刊上发表关于岛屿生物地理学的分类修订和文章。这些产出将提供基本的基线数据，这些数据将：1)突出和宣传隐生植物群对岛屿游客的重要性；2)允许更好的信息和有针对性的保护工作-例如费尔南多迪诺罗尼亚是联合国教科文组织指定的世界遗产；3)为长期监测气候变化和人为影响对岛屿生物多样性的影响提供重要参考；4)为英国和巴西合作伙伴在岛屿生物地理学方面的联合研究方案和资助申请奠定基础，包括植物区系的起源、它们的进化、地方性和生殖生物学。在这些活动中还包括一项主要的培训方案，通过讲习班和实地考察为巴西早期职业科学家和保护人员提供培训。这将使新一代巴西科学家能够进行独立的、最先进的密码研究。

Oceanic islands (i.e. islands that have never been connected to a continent) are natural laboratories of evolutionary and biogeographic processes and key to understanding these in continental settings. Seen traditionally as migratory dead ends, it is now thought that these islands may instead represent 'dynamic refugia' and 'migratory stepping stones' for species that are effective dispersers, such as spore-producing plants (mosses, liverworts, hornworts, ferns and lycopods collectively known as cryptogams). Thus, cryptogams are the key terrestrial plants for understanding the biogeography of oceanic islands; they are primary colonists and hence are sentinel organisms for tracking ecological successions and soil development and, unlike many flowering plants, they have almost all arrived naturally by wind-borne propagules rather than as human introductions.The oceanic South Atlantic Islands include Ascension, St. Helena and Tristan da Cunha (all British Overseas Territories) and the Brazilian counterparts, Fernando de Noronha and Trindade. We are putting together a team of UK and Brazilian scientists who already have considerable experience of working on some of these islands to conduct the first comprehensive study of their cryptogamic diversity and biogeography. This work will enable the drawing up of biodiversity action plans, conservation strategies and lead to the recognition of the islands as key locations for monitoring and understanding the effects of climate change. Our research programme will include extensive field work, which coupled with thorough taxonomic analyses, will lead to the first comprehensive assessment of species richness and diversity of both Brazilian and British South Atlantic Oceanic Islands. Major outputs will be authoritative species checklists for the five islands; an illustrated Flora for Fernando de Noronha like those already published for St. Helena and Ascension Island; popular articles to increase public awareness; taxonomic revisions and articles on island biogeography in peer-reviewed journals. These outputs will provide essential baseline data that will: 1) highlight and publicize the importance of the cryptogamic flora to visitors of the islands; 2) allow for better informed and targeted conservation efforts- e.g. Fernando de Noronha is a UNESCO designated World Heritage Site; 3) provide key reference works for long-term monitoring of the effects of climate change and anthropogenic impacts on the biodiversity of the islands ; 4) form the basis for joint research programmes and funding applications by UK and Brazilian partners on island biogeography embracing the origins of the floras, their evolution, endemism and reproductive biology. Embedded in these activities is a major training programme for early career Brazilian scientists and conservation personnel through workshops and fieldwork. This will enable a new generation of Brazilian scientists to carry out independent, state-of-the-art cryptogamic research.