Nicolai M. Nürk

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• Dr. rer. nat.
• Group Leader at University of Bayreuth

Plant phylogenetics has been revolutionised in the genomic era, with target capture acting as the primary workhorse of most recent research in the new field of phylogenomics. Target capture (aka Hyb-Seq) allows researchers to sequence hundreds of genomic regions (loci) of their choosing, at relatively low cost per sample, from which to derive phylo...

Interrogating the ecological and geographic factors that influence population divergence dynamics can reveal why some groups of organisms diversify more prolifically than others. One such group is the heathers (Erica, Ericaceae), the largest plant genus in the Cape Floristic Region. We study Erica abietina, a highly variable species complex with fo...

Apocynaceae (the dogbane and milkweed family) is one of the ten largest flowering plant families, with approximately 5,350 species and diverse morphology and ecology, ranging from large trees and lianas that are emblematic of tropical rainforests, to herbs in temperate grasslands, to succulents in dry, open landscapes, and to vines in a wide variet...

Understanding how and why rates of evolutionary diversification vary is a key issue in evolutionary biology, ecology, and biogeography. Evolutionary rates are the net result of interacting processes summarized under concepts such as adaptive radiation and evolutionary stasis. Here, we review the central concepts in the evolutionary diversification...

The evolution of secondary (insular) woodiness and the rapid disparification of plant growth forms associated with island radiations show intriguing parallels between oceanic islands and tropical alpine sky islands. However, the evolutionary significance of these phenomena remains poorly understood and the focus of debate. We explore the evolutiona...

Plant phylogenetics has been revolutionised in the genomic era, with target capture acting as the primary workhorse of most recent research in the new field of phylogenomics. Target capture (aka Hyb-Seq) allows researchers to sequence hundreds to thousands of genomic regions (loci) of their choosing, at relatively low cost per sample, from which to...

Estimates of the number of vascular plant species currently under threat of extinction are shockingly high, with the highest extinction rates reported for narrow-range, woody plants, especially in biodiversity hotspots with Mediterranean and tropical climates. The large genus Erica is a prime example, as a large proportion of its 851 species, all s...

Species co-existence based on resource partitioning modulates biodiversity patterns across latitudes and altitudes. Resource partitioning can occur via specialisation or separation in the geographic range or niche. Here, we compare two tropical alpine ecosystems with similar climates to test for geographic range and climatic niche partitioning stra...

Species identification is fundamental to all aspects of biology and conservation. The process can be challenging, particularly in groups including many closely related or similar species. The problem is confounded by the absence of an up-to-date taxonomic revision, but even with such a resource all but professional botanists may struggle to recogni...

Estimates of the number of vascular plant species currently under threat of extinction are shockingly high, with the highest extinction rates reported for narrow-range, woody plants, especially in biodiversity hotspots with Mediterranean and tropical climates. The large genus Erica is a prime example, as a large proportion of its 851 species, all s...

Species identification is fundamental to all aspects of biology and conservation. The process can be challenging, particularly in groups including many closely related or similar species. The problem is confounded by the absence of an up-to-date taxonomic revision, but even with such a resource all but professional botanists may struggle to recogni...

Abstract: In the tropical Americas, the Orthosiinae (Apocynaceae) comprises plant species with small but intricate flowers and harbours a tremendous, still understudied diversity currently classified in four genera, Jobinia, Monsanima, Orthosia, and Scypho­stelma. In this study, we describe and illustrate four new species of Scyphostelma: S. boliv...

Deciphering the ecological and geographic factors that influence the dynamics of population divergence can aid in understanding why some groups of organisms diversify more prolifically than others. One such diverse group is the heathers (Erica, Ericaceae), whose exceptional species richness in the Cape Floristic Region is enigmatic. Here, we study...

Societal Impact Statement Human‐caused habitat destruction and transformation is resulting in a cascade of impacts to biological diversity, of which arguably the most fundamental is species extinctions. The Global Conservation Consortia (GCC) are a means to pool efforts and expertise across national boundaries and between disciplines in the attempt...

In lichen symbioses, fungal secondary metabolites provide UV protection on which lichen algae such as trebouxiophycean green algae—the most prominent group of photobionts in lichen symbioses—sensitively depend. These metabolites differ in their UV absorbance capability and solvability, and thus vary in their propensity of being leached from the lic...

Content: Table S1 – Species data: taxon names, clade assignment, species richness, sampling fractions, and species distribution. Table S2 – Biogeographic analyses: model comparison results (a: considered; b: incl. +J). Table S3 – Biogeographic test: model definition. Table S4 – BSM: dispersals estimated under the M1s.DEC+J model. Table S5 – Biogeo...

The Palaeotropical genus Antirhea (Guettardeae, Rubiaceae) currently comprises 37 dioecious species classified into three subgenera, Antirhea, Mesocarpa, and Guettardella. It has a complex taxonomic history with varying generic delineation and variable application of species names. Recent phylogenetic studies have indicated the non-monophyly of Ant...

The Palaeotropical genus Antirhea (Guettardeae, Rubiaceae) currently comprises 37 dioecious species classified into three subgenera, Antirhea, Mesocarpa and Guettardella. It has a complex taxonomic history with varying generic delineation and variable application of species names. Recent phylogenetic studies have indicated the non-monophyly of Anti...

A flexible use of the crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM) has been hypothesised to represent an intermediate stage along a C3 to full CAM evolutionary continuum, when relative contributions of C3 vs CAM metabolism are co‐determined by evolutionary history and prevailing environmental constraints. However, evidence for such eco‐evolutionary interdepe...

The success of antifungal therapies is often hindered by the limited number of available drugs. To close the gap in the antifungal pipeline, the search of novel leads is of primary importance, and here the exploration of neglected plants has great promise for the discovery of new principles. Through bioassay-guided isolation, uliginosin B and five...

The success of antifungal therapies is often hindered by the limited number of available drugs. To close the gap in the antifungal pipeline, the search of novel leads is of primary importance, and here the exploration of neglected plants has great promise for the discovery of new principles. Through bioassay-guided isolation, uliginosin B and five...

Background Drosanthemum, the only genus of the tribe Drosanthemeae, is widespread over the Greater Cape Floristic Region in southern Africa. With 114 recognized species, Drosanthemum, together with the highly succulent and species-rich tribe Ruschieae, constitute the ‘core ruschioids’ in Aizoaceae. Within Drosanthemum, nine subgenera have been desc...

If you are baffled by the Cape’s bounty of ericas, you have plenty of company – there is even a global research network digging deep to find out why fynbos is dominated by hundreds of different erica species

Understanding how and why rates of evolutionary diversification vary is a key issue in evolutionary biology, ecology, and biogeography. Evolutionary rates are the net result of interacting processes summarized under concepts such as adaptive radiation and evolutionary stasis. Here, we review the central concepts in the evolutionary diversification...

Background: The coincidence of long distance dispersal (LDD) and biome shift is assumed to be the result of a multifaceted interplay between geographical distance and ecological suitability of source and sink areas. Here, we test the influence of these factors on the dispersal history of the flowering plant genus Erica (Ericaceae) across the Afrot...

Background Drosanthemum, the only genus of the tribe Drosanthemeae, is widespread over the Greater Cape Floristic Region in southern Africa. With 114 recognized species, Drosanthemum together with the highly succulent and species-rich tribe Ruschieae constitute the ‘core ruschioids’ in Aizoaceae. Within Drosanthemum , nine subgenera have been descr...

Understanding how and why rates of evolutionary diversification vary is a key issue in evolutionary biology, ecology, and biogeography, and the metaphorical concepts of adaptive radiation and evolutionary stasis describe two opposing aspects causing variation in diversification rates. Here we review the central concepts in the evolutionary diversif...

The following Supporting Information is available for this article: Table S1 Voucher – Information on species and sequence references included in the study, and coding of characters (distribution, life history, and growth form). Table S2 Comparative diversification rate analysis: model specification and model fit (BayesRate). Table S3 Sampling frac...

The coincidence of long distance dispersal and biome shift is assumed to be the result of a multifaceted interplay between geographical distance and ecological suitability of source and sink areas. Here, we test the influence of these factors on the dispersal history of the flowering plant genus Erica (Ericaceae) across the Afrotemperate. We quanti...

Aim: Tropical mountains around the world harbour an extraordinarily rich pool of plant species and are hotspots of biodiversity. Climatically, they can be zoned into montane climates at mid-altitudes and tropical alpine climates above the tree line. Around half of the tropical alpine species belong to plant lineages with a temperate ancestry, altho...

The following supporting information is available for this article: 1. Species voucher: Table S1. 2. Molecular marker: information on sequenced loci, primer, and PCR conditions. 3. Age estimation: information on fossil constrains and secondary calibrations. 4. Biogeography and biome analyses: BayArea MD: Table S2.1 (areas), Table 2.2 (biomes); m...

Fungal infections represent a major and increasing threat to public health resulting in a growing demand for new drugs. The genus Hypericum is a rich source of bioactive secondary metabolite, including antimicrobials and the exploration of uninvestigated species holds the potential for the discovery of novel molecules for the pharma- ceutical marke...

Background and aims: In Central Europe Hypericum perforatum and Hypericum maculatum show significant hybridization and introgression as a consequence of Pleistocene range fluctuations, and their gene pools are merging on higher ploidy levels. This paper discusses whether polyploid hybrid gene pools are trapped in the ecological climatic niche spac...

Abstract book of 23rd Symposium on ‘Biodiversity and Evolutionary Biology’ of the German Botanical Society September 8 – 11, 2016 in Munich, Germany. Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München & The German Botanical Society

Our aim is to understand the evolution of species-rich plant groups that shifted from tropical into cold/temperate biomes. It is well known that climate affects evolutionary processes, such as how fast species diversify, species range shifts, and species distributions. Many plant lineages may have gone extinct in the Northern Hemisphere due to Late...

Background: Our aim is to understand the evolution of species-rich plant groups that shifted from tropical into cold/ temperate biomes. It is well known that climate affects evolutionary processes, such as how fast species diversify, species range shifts, and species distributions. Many plant lineages may have gone extinct in the Northern Hemispher...

The páramos, high-elevation Andean grasslands ranging from ca. 2800 m to the snow line, harbor one of the fastest evolving biomes worldwide since their appearance in the northern Andes 3–5 million years (Ma) ago. Hypericum (St. John's wort), with over 65% of its Neotropical species, has a center of diversity in these high Mountain ecosystems. Using...

Phylogenetic analyses in St.John's wort (Hypericum) – Inferring character evolution and historical biogeography Dissertation zur Erlangung des akademischen Grades des Doktors der Naturwissenschaften (Dr. rer. nat.) eingereicht im Fachbereich Biologie, Chemie, Pharmazie der Freien Universität Berlin vorgelegt von NICOLAI M. NÜRK aus Filderstadt 201...

The genus Hypericum L. (St. John's wort, Hypericaceae) includes more than 450 species that occur in temperature or tropical mountain regions of the world. Monographic work on the genus has resulted in the recognition and description of 36 taxonomic sections, delineated by specific combinations of morphological characteristics and biogeographic dist...

Hypericum is a worldwide distributed genus with almost 500 species, including the medically used apomictic species H. perforatum. It is one of the few large plant genera where alpha taxonomy is nearly completed. To conduct a formal cladistic analysis of the genus, we coded 89 morphological characters for all described taxa, and analyzed the data wi...

Hypericum is a worldwide‐distributed genus with almost 500 species, including the medically used, facultative apomictic species H. perforatum. It is one of the few large plant genera for which alpha taxonomy has been completed and most species have been described. To conduct a formal cladistic analysis of the genus, we coded 89 morphological charac...

We present a revision of Lithospermum for South America based on extensive field work and herbarium study which leads to the recognition of ten species including five new to science: Lithospermum bolivariensis, L. cuzcoensis, L. leymebambensis and L. rodriguezii from Peru, and L. azuayensis from Ecuador. The South American species group is morpholo...

We present a revision of Lithospermum for South America based on extensive field work and herbarium study which leads to the recognition of ten species including five new to science: Lithospermum bolivariensis, L. cuzcoensis, L. leymebambensis and L. rodriguezii from Peru, and L. azuayensis from Ecuador. The South American species group is morpholo...