OBJECTIVES

 How the cladogam affects the relatedness of the species?

 Describing the difference of the species in terms of its morphological characteristics.

 How differences in characteristics affects its variation?

INTRODUCTION

The Polypodiopsida or Leptosporangiate (also known as Filiopsida or Filicales)

correspond to what are commonly known as leptosporangiate ferns. Of the major monilophyte

groups, the leptosporangiate ferns contain by far the greatest diversity, estimated from atleast

8800 to over 12,000 species (Simpson, 2010). Polypodiopsida are distinct by having its own set

of apomorphic characteristics. They are usually characterized by having a sporangia that develop

from a single cell and have mature sporangial walls only one cell thick; most possess a

distinctive annulus that serves to eject the spores (usually 64). Features of the sporangia includes

the shape and position of the annulus, the structure and shape of clustered sporangia (sori), and

whether or not a flap of tissue (indusium) protects the sori (Pryer et al.,2004). In 2006, a

cladogram of families and orders of leptosporangiate ferns was added dividing Polypodiopsida

into 7 orders--- Osmundales, Hymenophyllales, Gleicheniales, Schizaeales, Salviniales,

Cyatheales Polypodiales and 33 families of leptosporangiate ferns in accordance to the selected

apomorphies that each family and order possessed. (Smith et al.,2006). The said apomorphic

characters are derived from molecular data making the said orders and families appear as

monophyletic. However, because of the diagnostic and morphological features of some members

of the leptosporangiate ferns, certain families may be hard to characterize.

 Considering such group of plants’ diversity, characterizing certain families would appear

difficult especially that one change could affect the entire evolutionary history of the group.

However, the increasing robust phylogenetic hypotheses, broadly inclusive of ferns and utilizing

data from single or multiple sources (e.g., morphology; plastid, nuclear, and/or mitochondrial

genes), have improved confidence in the composition of and the relationships among many taxa

historically treated at familial and ordinal ranks (Pryer et al., 2004). It results in various

phylogenetic trees that show the relationship of a certain taxa to the other taxa through the

evolution of specific apomorphic characters present within the specific order or family.

In this paper the samples were collected from a man-made forest located at 9˚15'N

37.181" N and 123˚ 14' 32.351" E that has an altitude of 200 m above sea level. Random

sampling was used to collect the samples and the following were used to examine and identify

the collected samples of ferns; (1) Collection of Samples, (2) Tagging of Samples, (3) Recording

the Morphological Characteristics of the Fern, (4) Examining the sori under the microscope (5)

Identifying the scientific name of each samples and, (6) Data Analysis.

The researchers would like to give emphasis on the morphology or the form and structure

of leptosporangiate (polypods) ferns including the specific structural features with the primary

aim of creating a morphologically based phylogenetic tree that would show how a certain species

of leptosporangiate fern is related to another species in terms of its morphological features.

Nevertheless, providing a robust overall framework for ferns will ultimately enable the

researchers to answer some long-standing systematic questions and work toward understanding

the patterns of character evolution that gave rise to the Cretaceous radiation and diversification

of polypod ferns (Schneider et al., 2004b)

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

Given the aim to do a replication study with a goal to update the systematics of

leptosprangiate, this would benefit in field of systematic knowledge in which is to observed and

identify the created classification system whereby species are explicitly grouped in a way that it

reflects their phylogeny that is fundamental in understanding evolutionary relationships such as

evolutionary time and amount of change. This is also important in a way that it hypothesizes the

common ancestor as well as the shared characteristics. This important realization is now apparent

to researchers in diverse fields, including ecology, molecular biology, and physiology. One

obvious example is the value of placing model organisms in the appropriate phylogenetic context

to obtain a better understanding of both patterns and processes of evolution.

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

Ferns comprise ca. 12,000 extant species and are the closest living relatives of the

seedplants. The first molecular systematic studies on ferns were published in the mid-1990s , and

set the direction for modern fern systematics. Since then, numerous molecular phylogenetic

studies have either focused on certain classically defined fern groups by sampling members from

the group studied, or tested the backbone fern classification by sampling exemplar species of

higher taxa. Both kinds of studies have, however, specific limitations to recover the complete

fern tree of life. Well-sampled analyses are crucial for understanding the lower level

phylogenetic patterns, but due to their generally limited scope the higher level relationships

remain untested. Conversely, the relationships between higher taxonomic ranks (such as genera

or families) may be seriously obscured if only one or few representatives of each group are

sampled.
The Leptosprorangiate/Polypodiopsida

Figure 1.Cladogram of Polypodiopsida(Simpson, 2010)

The Polypodiopsida or Leptosporangiate (also known as Filiopsida or Filicales)

correspond to what are commonly known as leptosporangiate ferns. Of the major monilophyte

groups, the leptosporangiate ferns contain by far the greatest diversity, estimated from atleast

8800 to over 12,000 species (Simpson, 2010). Polypodiopsida are distinct by having its own set

of apomorphic characteristics. They are usually characterized by having a sporangia that develop

from a single cell and have mature sporangial walls only one cell thick; most possess a
distinctive annulus that serves to eject the spores (usually 64). Features of the sporangia—

including the shape and position of the annulus, the structure and shape of sporangial groups

(sori), and whether or not a flap of tissue (indusium) protects the sori (Pryer et al.,2004). In 2006,

a cladogram of families and orders of leptosporangiate ferns was added dividingPolypodiopsida

into 7 orders--- Osmundales, Hymenophyllales, Gleicheniales, Schizaeales,

Salviniales,CyathealesPolypodiales and 33 families of leptosporangiate ferns in accordance to

the selected apomorphies that each family and order possessed. (Smith et al.,2006). The said

apomorphic characters are derived from molecular data making the said orders and families

appear as monophyletic.
Recent Existing Studies on Leptosporangiate Systematics

Figure 2.Cladogram showing the currently recognised fern families (Samuli Lehtonen, 2011)

An ongoing compilation of Hassler and Swale (2001) reported that the earth houses 3

classes, 19 orders, 58 families, 316 genera and 10614-12001 species of ferns. In the Philippines,

around 1100 species under 144 genera and 39 families of pteridophytes have been recorded

(Barcelona, 2002). However, in this paper 28 families are listed since some of the families

accounted by Zamora (2007) and Price (1975) were transferred to existing fern families on

account of the recent findings by phylogenetic studies (Smith, et.al., 2006). Families that were
affected are: Christiopteridaceae and Loxogrammacaeae which are now lumped in

Polypodiaceae; Parkeriaceae is now transferred to Pteridaceae; Monachosoraceae is now

combined with Dennstaedtiaceae; Azollaceae with Marsileaceae; and Cheiropleuraceae with

Dipteridaceae. In the Philippines there are 3 classes, 11 orders and 32 families of fernswhich are:

Polypodiaceae, Davalliaceae, Oleandraceae, Tectariaceae, Lomariopsidaceae, Dryopteridaceae,

Blechnaceae, Thelypteridaceae, Woodsiaceae, Aspleniaceae, Pteridaceae, Dennstaedtiaceae,

Saccolomataceae and Lindsaeaceae. Grammitadaceae, which has been moved to Polypodiaceae

based on Smith¶V (2006), classification scheme can be found in the wet tropics extending to the

north and the sound temperate zones (Parris, 2007). A few species are associated with rivers in

tropical lowland forests, either as epiphytes, often overhanging the water, or as facultative

rheophytes on rocks in and by water. The genus Platycerium under the family Polypodiaceae is

one of the few pantropical epiphytic fern genera (Kreier and Schneider, 2005). The family

Woodsiaceae was previously thought to be endemic to Taiwan not until recently when it was

found in the Philippines. The genus Athyria belonging to the said family is mainly distributed in

temperate and tropical-subtropical regions of Asia (Liu, et. al., 2008).

A phylogenetic tree of relationships should be the central underpinning of research in

many areas of biology. Comparisons of plant species or gene sequences in a phylogenetic

context can provide the most meaningful insights into biology. This important realization is now

apparent to researchers in diverse fields, including ecology, molecular biology, and physiology

One obvious example is the value of placing model organisms in the appropriate phylogenetic

context to obtain a better understanding of both patterns and processes of evolution. Given these,

the researchers would aim to do a replication study with a goal to update the systematics of

leptosprangiate.
 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Figure 3.The cladogram inferring the Phylogeny of Leptosporangiates in which it shows

primitive and the derived taxa.

 Based on the cladogram presented on figure 3, Cyathea gigantea and Cyathea

tomentossima are more closely related than Cyathea latebrosa. The base taxon in figure 3 is

Pteris vittata. The second base taxa are N. bisserata, N. exaltate, and N. cordifolia. The other

clade follows as what figure 3 shows. The cladogram shows clearly what are the derived and the

primitive taxa.

CONCLUSION

The cladogram of leptosporongiate ferns shows the possible derived taxa based on its

available characteristics that were identified through evaluation. Each taxa is being evaluated

them compare to every species that was gathered. Based on the cladogram on figure 3, the same

genus does not mean that it have similar characteristics. The similarity of its characteristics

shows the relatedness of each taxa based on derived and primitive characters. Figure 3 represents

how the leptosporongiate ferns vary in terms of morphological characteristics. The

characteristics defines the relatedness and on how far the species from the common ancestor.
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