Molecular Data From Herbarium Specimens Reveal A Potential Extirpation of Azolla microphylla From California
- 1Skyline College
Abstract
Previous studies have shown that there may be more species of Azolla in California than currently recognized, including a recent introduction of the non-native Azolla caroliniana. To better assess the status and species diversity of Azolla in California, we sequenced four historical herbarium specimens, some over 100 years old, and increased our sampling of extant populations across seven counties in California. We found that many specimens from California thought to be Azolla microphylla are actually Azolla filiculoides or members of one of two non-native "Azolla caroliniana" clades. We also found that some specimens collected from California from the 1960s through the 1980s fall within an Azolla microphylla-mexicana clade. However, there is no evidence of this species from any recent collections even from counties where it was previously found, which points to a potential extirpation of this species from California.
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BibTeX
@misc{song2026molecular,
title = {{Molecular Data From Herbarium Specimens Reveal A Potential Extirpation of Azolla microphylla From California}},
author = {M. J. Song and A. Schedler and G. Wagner and F. Freund and I. L. Maarck and C. M. Tribble and C. J. Rothfels and P. Johnson and J. Ekwealor},
howpublished = {bioRxiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.64898/2026.10.16.758102},
url = {https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.10.16.758102v1},
note = {CC BY-NC},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Molecular Data From Herbarium Specimens Reveal A Potential Extirpation of Azolla microphylla From California
AU - M. J. Song
AU - A. Schedler
AU - G. Wagner
AU - F. Freund
AU - I. L. Maarck
AU - C. M. Tribble
AU - C. J. Rothfels
AU - P. Johnson
AU - J. Ekwealor
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/16
PB - bioRxiv
DO - 10.64898/2026.10.16.758102
UR - https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.10.16.758102v1
AB - Previous studies have shown that there may be more species of Azolla in California than currently recognized, including a recent introduction of the non-native Azolla caroliniana. To better assess the status and species diversity of Azolla in California, we sequenced four historical herbarium specimens, some over 100 years old, and increased our sampling of extant populations across seven counties in California. We found that many specimens from California thought to be Azolla microphylla are actually Azolla filiculoides or members of one of two non-native "Azolla caroliniana" clades. We also found that some specimens collected from California from the 1960s through the 1980s fall within an Azolla microphylla-mexicana clade. However, there is no evidence of this species from any recent collections even from counties where it was previously found, which points to a potential extirpation of this species from California.
ER -