Sanna Huttunen

• PhD
• Turun yliopisto at University of Turku

Climate change and environmental degradation are among the most pressing global issues, making tree planting initiatives essential for combating climate change, halting biodiversity loss, and restoring degraded landscapes. However, many tree planting programs face challenges such as planting non-native, potentially invasive species, and disregardin...

In this study, we describe plant communities along the mesotopographic gradient in the low-elevation subcontinental mountains of NE Finland (Utsjoki region). We sampled vascular plants, bryophytes and lichens along 18 mesotopographic ridge-snowbed transects comprising a total of 180 plots. We used non-metric multidimensional scaling (NMDS) ordinati...

Luonnontieteellisten museoiden kokoelmien sähköinen saatavuus ja tiedon avoimuus ovat ottaneet suuria harppauksia viimeisen parin vuosikymmenen aikana tekniikan kehittymisen ja paremman rahoituksen ansiosta. Kokoelmanhallintajärjestelmä Kotka on ollut käytössä Suomen luonnontieteellisissä museoissa jo lähes kymmenen vuoden ajan. Suomen lajitietokes...

Preliminary results of our first field measurement campaign on the daily cycle of marula tree (Sclerocarya birrea) photosynthetic activity and daily microclimatic variation within tree canopy in Ogongo Campus, N-Namibia.

Premise Bryophytes form a major component of terrestrial plant biomass, structuring ecological communities in all biomes. Our understanding of the evolutionary history of hornworts, liverworts and mosses has been significantly reshaped by inferences from molecular data, which have highlighted extensive homoplasy in various traits and repeated burst...

Ten species of mosses (Bryophyta: Entosthodon obtusus, Entosthodon ulvinenii, Eurhynchiastrum diversifolium, Hedwigia emodica, Hedwigia mollis, Hygrohypnum styriacum, Plagiothecium ros-sicum, Polytrichum perigoniale, Tortella alpicola and Ulota intermedia) are presented as new for Finland. Cephalozia lacinulata, previously considered to be regional...

Bryophytes are emerging as the sister-group to extant vascular plants, and their current diversity highlights that their life cycle characterized by a dominating vegetative gametophyte and an unbranched sporophyte composes a successful alternative to that of vascular plants and their dominating sporophyte. The evolutionary history of hornworts, liv...

The Finnish Biodiversity Information Facility (FinBIF) maintains a national checklist of Finnish species, which is publicly available in the portal Species.fi. The checklist 2022 can be found and uploaded here: https://laji.fi/en/theme/checklist. FinBIF gathers up-to-date information about Finnish species into the checklist, which also functions...

Network of permanent transects was established in 2021 and 2022 to enable monitoring snowbed vegetation in Finland. Network comprizes of 24 study sites in Utsjoki, Pallas fells, Enontekiö and Saariselkä. Transects are 15 to 50 m long and vegetation has been studied from eight 80 x 80 cm plots that are placed at even distances along each transect....

[Turku BioBlitz event results - observations of Turku University campus during one day] The Biodiversity Unit organized a BioBlitz event at the Turku University campus (Finland) and its surroundings areas on 21st-22nd May, 2022. Among 53 participants, seven bryologists observed and collected bryophytes. All observations were either photographed an...

Six species of mosses (Bryophyta: Brachythecium udum, Lewinskya fastigiata, L. elegans, Polytrichastrum altaicum, P. septentrionale, Tortella densa) and two of liverworts (Marchantiophyta: Scapania parvifolia and Tritomaria excecta) are presented as new for Finland. One species, Brachythecium laetum, is removed from the Finnish checklist. New recor...

Phylogenetic relationships of species within the pleurocarpous moss genus Neckera s.l. (Neckeraceae) are reconstructed based on three genomic regions: the plastid rps4-trnT-trnL-trnF cluster and the rpl16 group II intron, as well as the internal transcribed spacer region of the nuclear ribosomal DNA (ITS1-5.8S-ITS2). The phylogenetic reconstruction...

Ecofacts from a wooden structure and its surrounding area at the medieval Cathedral School site (Medieval period in Finland AD 1200-1520) were used to compliment the archaeological data from Turku, the oldest town of Finland. The site is of primary importance to the study of Turku’s past. The analysed ecofacts consisted primarily of vascular plant...

Nonrecombining sex chromosomes, like the mammalian Y, often lose genes and accumulate transposable elements, a process termed degeneration. The correlation between suppressed recombination and degeneration is clear in animal XY systems, but the absence of recombination is confounded with other asymmetries between the X and Y. In contrast, UV sex ch...

We present a description of the new species Rhynchostegium occultum from central Chile, including illustrations, a distribution map, and preliminary molecular data that supports its taxonomic placement. The new taxon is restricted to coastal relict forests of central Chile. An overview of the Chilean taxa of Rhynchostegium, and a key for local spec...

Sex chromosomes occur in diverse organisms, but their structural complexity has often prevented evolutionary analyses. Here we use two chromosome-scale reference genomes of the moss Ceratodon purpureus to trace the evolution of the sex chromosomes in bryophytes. Comparative analyses show the moss genome comprises seven remarkably stable ancestral c...

This Red List is a summary of the conservation status of the European species of mosses, liverworts and hornworts, collectively known as bryophytes, evaluated according to IUCN’s Guidelines for Application of IUCN Red List Criteria at Regional Level. It provides the first comprehensive, region-wide assessment of bryophytes and it identifies those s...

The European Red List is a review of the status of European species according to IUCN regional Red Listing guidelines. It identifies those species that are threatened with extinction at the regional level – in order that appropriate conservation action can be taken to improve their status. This publication is a summary of the conservation status of...

The genera Fleischerobryum Loeske and Philonotis Brid. of the Bartramiaceae and the family Mniaceae (excluding Pohlia Hedw.) are revised for Vietnam, based on specimens studied and literature reports. Four species are added to the flora: Orthomnion javense (M.Fleisch.) T.J.Kop., Philonotis asperifolia Mitt., P. laii T.J.Kop., P. speciosa (Griff.) M...

In the light of a phylogenetic reconstruction based on a multi-loci data set including sequence data from all three compartments (plastome: (rps4)–trnF, rpl16 group II intron; chondrome: nad5 group I intron; nuclear: ITS1&2) the Orthostichellaceae are described as a new family of pleurocarpous mosses. It is distributed mainly in the Neotropics and...

Molecular phylogenetic analysis found Homalothecium laevisetum, a widespread East Asian and Malesian species, to be unrelated to other species of this genus and invoked resurrection of the genus Oticodium. The latter genus was described for one species, O. celebesiae, which is considered to be a synonym of Homalothecium laevisetum. Oticodium belong...

Five species of mosses (Bryophyta: Oncophorus demetrii, Oncophorus integerrimus, Oxyrrhynchium speciosum, Sphagnum divinum and Sphagnum medium) and one of liverworts (Marchantiophyta: Kurzia trichoclados) are presented as new for Finland. Seligeria calcarea and Seligeria pusilla, previously thought to be regionally extinct from Finland, are reporte...

In recent treatments of Fissidens subgenus Fissidens, the species delimitation of F. bryoides, the type species of the subgenus, has been rather variable. In Finland, F. bryoides has either been split into F. bryoides, F. gymnandrus and F. viridulus, or treated as a single species, F. bryoides s. lato, including two or more intraspecific taxa. The...

Mosses (division Bryophyta) are characterized by the dominance of haploid, poikilohydric gametophytes, and relatively persistent sporophytes that are dependent on the gametophyte generation. Because they are poikilohydric, tend to be desiccation tolerant, and have primarily ectohydric water uptake mechanisms, the ecological requirements of mosses t...

In Northern Europe, barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) has been cultivated for almost 6000 years. Thus far, 150-year-old grains from historical collections have been used to investigate the distribution of barley diversity and how the species has spread across the region. Genetic studies of archaeobotanical material from agrarian sites could potentially c...

The full text can be accessed via conference website: https://peerageofscience.org/conference/eccb2018/107012/ DOI: 10.17011/conference/eccb2018/107012

Kenttäkurssit ovat keskeinen osa biologian ja lähitieteiden opetusta yliopistoissa. Luonnossa tapahtuva opetus kehittää sekä ymmärrystä tieteenalan teoreettisista perusteista että ammatillisia käytännön taitoja. Kenttäkursseilla omat havainnot muodostuvat oppimisen perustaksi muiden oppimistapojen rinnalla. Vaikka kenttäopetuksen tarpeellisuudesta...

This poster provides an introduction to the activities of the herbarium TUR.

This poster presents parts of the first article to be included in my PhD thesis. The description of a dataset is accompanied with some preliminary results (unpublished): 1. the biomass of epiphytic bryophytes decreases as forests become more disturbed and 2. the diversity of epiphytic bryophytes, even at family level, is a good indicator of the suc...

Two closely related tropical genera from the pleurocarpous moss family Neckeraceae are revised: the second largest genus in the family, Neckeropsis, currently with 29 species, and Himantocladium, comprising six species. Twenty-one species of Neckeropsis and five of Himantocladium were included in this study, which is based on phylogenetic analyses...

Three species of mosses (Bryophyta: Philonotis yezoana, Protobryum bryoides, Rhynchostegium murale) and one of liverworts (Marchantiophyta: Moerckia flotoviana) are presented new for Finland. Timmia megapolitana, previously thought to be regionally extinct, is reported to being found again. New records in biogeographical provinces for 82 species of...

Brachythecium campestre –insufficiently known or truly rare? Brachythecium campestre is a rare moss, in Finland occurring in mesic grasslands and forest pastures in the southernmost provinces. In the most recent Red List of Finland the species was evaluated as nearly threatened (NT). We revised B. campestre specimens kept in Finnish herbaria (H, OU...

Cool climate biomes in the Northern Hemisphere have evolved relatively recently. Temperature decline between the late Eocene and the Pliocene contributed to the evolution of many plant groups in modern cool climate biomes, such as mosses belonging to the Brachythecium novae-angliae-complex. The Brachythecium novae-angliae-complex comprises three sp...

Quaternary climatic and glacial history must be known in order to understand future environments. Reconstructions of the last Weichselian glacial cycle 117,000–11,700 years (kyr) ago propose that S Finland, adjacent Russia and the Baltic countries in the SE sector of the Eurasian Ice Sheet (EIS), were glaciated during the Middle Weichselian time [m...

The distribution and systematic position of Kindbergia Ochyra in China is reevaluated. The phylogenetic analyses based on nuclear marker (ITS1-5.8S-ITS2) and chloroplastic markers (rpl16, trnG, and trnL-F) show that the alleged species of “Kindbergia” in China and Himalayas form a maximally supported clade (1.00 PP and 100 MPBS), which is closely r...

The systematic position of the genus Bryhnia Kaurin has been problematic and remains unsettled. A phylogenetic analysis of Bryhnia and closely related genera, based on the nuclear marker ITS1–5·8S–ITS2 and the plastid markers rpl16, trnG, and trnL–F, was carried out to clarify their relationships and systematic positions. The phylogenetic trees gen...

The phylogenetic position and generic composition of the moss family Plagiotheciaceae were explored using DNA sequence data from three genomes: plastid trnL-F and rps4, mitochondrial nad5 intron and nuclear ITS1-5.8S-ITS2. Our phylogenetic analyses included 35 terminals from Plagiotheciaceae and 71 outgroup taxa from a representative set of hypnale...

Adaptive evolution has often been proposed to explain correlations between habitats and certain phenotypes. In mosses, a high frequency of species with specialized sporophytic traits in exposed or epiphytic habitats was, already 100 years ago, suggested as due to adaptation. We tested this hypothesis by contrasting phylogenetic and morphological da...

Bayesian tree for moss families Neckeraceae and Lembophyllaceae. Majority consensus of trees sampled after stationarity in the Bayesian analysis of the matrix including indels (for details, see [20] Olsson et al. 2009). Values along the branches indicate posterior probabilities (above the branches) and bootstrap support values from the parsimony an...

Coding for habitat preferences and morphological character states. (DOC)

Ancestral character state reconstructions for evolution of eight morphological characters and habitat preferences in the moss families Neckeraceae and Lembophyllaceae. (DOC)

The Hypnales are the largest order of mosses comprising approximately 4200 species. Phylogenetic reconstruction within the group has proven to be difficult due to rapid radiation at an early stage of evolution and, consequently, relationships among clades have remained poorly resolved. We compiled data from four sequence regions, namely, nuclear IT...

The pleurocarpous moss genus Forsstroemia (Neckeraceae) that was taxonomically revised in 1987 on morphological grounds is now revisited using sequence data from two plastid regions (rps4-trnF and rpl16) and nuclear ribosomal DNA (ITS1 and 2). The taxon sampling comprises 11 out of 13 species and a representative set of Neckeraceae and Lembophyllac...

Bryophyte floras typically exhibit extremely low levels of endemism. The interpretation, that this might reflect taxonomic shortcomings, is tested here for the Macaronesian flora, using the moss species complex of Rhynchostegium riparioides as a model. The deep polyphyly of R. riparioides across its distribution range reveals active differentiation...

Recent phylogenetic analyses indicated that the backbone phylogeny of the pleurocarpous moss family Neckeraceae falls into three distinct clades. Here the detailed composition and phylogenetic relationships of the two major clades (the Neckera clade and the Thamnobryum clade) are analysed. The phylogenetic analyses, based on sequence data from the...

Fine-scale spatial genetic structure (SGS) of the liverwort, Barbilophozia attenuata, occupying an area characterized by a network of ant trails, was investigated using microsatellite markers. This is the first study investigating SGS in a liverwort. Significant genetic differentiation was detected among colonies along and outside ant trails, and t...

The taxonomic position of Rhynchostegiella acicula , a local endemic of Shaanxi Province of China, is investigated by means of cladistic analyses employing nrITS sequences. The analyses show that R. acicula does not belong to Rhynchostegiella s.str. (Helicodontioideae) but is resolved within the Homalothecioideae as sister to Eurhynchiastrum , from...

The systematic position of the moss genus Acrocladium Mitten is reviewed and previous family placements are evaluated. A molecular dataset spanning five genomic regions from all three genomes was developed to address the relationships of Acrocladium. The results indicate a sister group relationship with Lepyrodontaceae, rather than with the Lemboph...

Phylogenetic relationships of the aquatic moss genus Platyhypnidium and terrestrial species of Rhynchostegium were explored using a phylogeny based on three DNA sequence regions, the nuclear ITS1-5.8S-ITS2, and the plastid trnL-F and trnD-T. This is the first study using trnD-T in the phyogeny of mosses. Platyhypnidium appeared polyphyletic and mos...

Phylogenetic relationships of the aquatic moss genus Platyhypnidium and terrestrial species of Rhynchostegium were explored using a phylogeny based on three DNA sequence regions, the nuclear ITS1–5.8S–ITS2, and the plastid trnL–F and trnD–T. This is the first study using trnD–T in the phyogeny of mosses. Platyhypnidium appeared polyphyletic and mos...

The family Neckeraceae is composed of three distinct clades, of which two, i.e. the Neckera and Thamnobryum clades, are well defined. The third clade, consisting of species belonging to Caduciella, Curvicladium, Handeliobryum, Himantocladium, Homaliodendron, Hydrocryphaea, Neckera, Neckeropsis, Pinnatella, Shevockia and Taiwanobryum, is the focus o...

Rhynchostegium confusum, a new species from Spain and the Iberian Peninsula is described. It is closely related to R. confertum, from which it differs in its noticeably wider stem leaves with wider and apically spurred costa, more flexuous branch leaves, and shorter seta. It also differs in its habit and habitat: the plants are tightly attached to...

The moss genus Rhynchostegiella (Helicodontioideae, Brachytheciaceae) has long served as a convenient repository for small brachythecioid pleurocarps. Its circumscription is revised in the context of a chloroplast phylogeny of the Helicodontioideae employing trnL-trnF, atpB-rbcL, psbT-psbH, and psbA-trnH sequence data. The analysis resolves with fu...

Earlier phylogenetic studies, including species belonging to the Neckeraceae, have indicated that this pleurocarpous moss family shares a strongly supported sister group relationship with the Lembophyllaceae, but the family delimitation of the former needs adjustment. To test the monophyly of the Neckeraceae, as well as to redefine the family circu...

The presence of short inversions in non-coding plastid DNA is universal and an integral part of its evolution. We studied the effect of these structural changes in phylogenetic inference by measuring phylogenetic accuracy as a topological congruence among topologies inferred from plastid and nuclear sequences in ferns (Lindsaea) and mosses (Brachyt...

The Macaronesian endemic flora has traditionally been interpreted as a relict of a subtropical element that spanned across Europe in the Tertiary. This hypothesis is revisited in the moss subfamily Helicodontioideae based on molecular divergence estimates derived from two independent calibration techniques either employing fossil evidence or using...

Phylogenetic analyses of the Hypnales usually show the same picture of poorly resolved trees with a large number of polyphyletic taxa and low support for the few reconstructed clades. One odd clade, however, consisting of three genera that are currently treated either within the Leskeaceae (Miyabea) or Neckeraceae (Homaliadelphus and Bissetia), was...

A new species of Homalothecium from California is described and illustrated. This species was first recognized as distinctive during analysis of a DNA investigation into members of Homalothecium and related genera. Homalothecium californicum sp. nov. is distinct in its frondose branching, patent to loosely erect leaves, size intermediate between th...

Although the Lembophyllaceae has undergone considerable revision during the last century, the generic and familial level relationships of this pleurocarpous moss family are still poorly understood. To address this problem, a generic revision of the Lembophyllaceae based on molecular data was undertaken. We analyzed two plastid markers, the trnL-trn...

The tandemly arranged genes psbT, psbN, and psbH code for proteins of photosystem II and are located in the large single copy region (LSC) of the chloroplast genome, downstream of psbB. So far, most of the studies dealing with this region have been interested in the organization and transcription of the psbB operon, while less is known about the tr...

Brachythecium athrocladum (Mitt.) Paris, an endemic species of St Helena Island , South Atlantic Ocean, is re-studied by morphology and molecular markers, nr ITS region and chloroplastic trnL-F. Molecular markers independently indicate the position of the species in Brachytheciaceae subfamily Helicodontoideae, especially close to the genera Helicod...

Competing hypotheses that rely either on a stepping-stone dispersal via the North Atlantic or the Bering land bridges, or more recent transoceanic dispersal, have been proposed to explain the disjunct distribution of Mediterranean flora in southern Europe and western North America. These hypotheses were tested with molecular dating using a phylogen...

The bryophyte flora of Hunan province, China, includes 15 genera and 28 species belonging to the family Meteoriaceae. Excursions by the Department of Ecology and Systematics and the Botanical Museum, University of Helsinki, to Hunan Province, China, revealed 26 species belonging to this family. This paper deals with 6 genera including 10 species: C...

In this chapter we compare the results from four earlier phylogenetic analyses of the moss family Meteoriaceae. Based on our previous studies we review the current state concerning the generic relationships within the family. Phylogenies are used to evaluate the views of morphological evolution within the family and to pinpoint the synapomorphies o...

Brachythecium auriculatum A. Jaeger was synonymized with Palamocladium leskeoides by Hoffman (1998). The present study shows their independence. Brachythecium complanatum Broth. is reported from Japan for the first time; this species was confused before with the superficially similar B. garovaglioides (=B. wichurae). Descriptions and illustrations...

Results from our analysis of chloroplast trnL-trnF and nuclear ITS1 and ITS2 sequence data and 35 morphological characters for 134 taxa of pleurocarpous mosses provide an evidence for resurrecting two moss families, Pseudoleskeaceae and Pylaisiaceae. Both these families were described by Schimper in 1860, but soon afterwards included in Leskeaceae...

ITS, rps4, and atpB-rbcL sequences were used to test recent taxonomic rearrangements in the moss genus Brachytheciastrum. A starting phylogenetic hypothesis of Brachytheciaceae was used to subsample representative genera of each subfamily to obtain a robust backbone phylogeny and circumscribe Brachytheciastrum within the family. The strongly suppor...

Twenty-three species of Brachytheciaceae, ten of which were previously unknown from the area, are reported from Hunan Province of China: Palamocladium leskeoides (Hook.) Britt., Homalothecium laevisetum Sande Lac., Brachythecium buchananii (Hook.) A. Jaeger, B. garovaglloides Müll. Hal., B. populeum (Hedw.) B.S.G., B. plumosum (Hedw.) B.S.G., B. ru...

In order to delimit and understand the evolution of the Meteoriaceae, we provide phylogenetic analyses using the internal transcribed spacer 2 (ITS2) of nuclear ribosomal DNA in combination with two plastid markers, trnL-F and psbT-H. In contrast to the widely used trnL-F region, the psbT-H gene cluster, coding for proteins of photosystem II, has b...

Brachytheciaceae is often considered a taxonomically difficult group of mosses. For example, morphological variation has led to difficulty in generic delimitation. We used DNA sequence data (chloroplast psbT-H and trnL-F and nuclear ITS2) together with morphology (63 characters) to examine the relationships within this family. The combined unaligne...

A most striking feature of cloud forests is the pendent epiphytic bryophyte communities. Of those, the majority are pleurocarpous moss species, chiefly of the Meteoriaceae, a family mainly occurring in the Southern Hemisphere. The pendent life-form was regarded as a prominent character uniting this family. Recent molecular and morphological investi...

The phylogeny of three pleurocarpous moss families, Meteoriaceae, Brachytheciaceae, and Lembophyllaceae, was studied using both morphology and molecular data. Phylogenetic analyses using different approaches revealed very similar, well-resolved topologies wherein the Meteoriaceae and Brachytheciaceae are monophyletic and sister to each other. The L...

Thirty-eight species of hepatics and 32 species of mosses are reported from Hunan Province of China, 32 hepatics and 13 mosses for the first time. A total of 285 species of mosses, 121 species of hepatics, and 4 species of hornworts are known from Hunan. The general frequency of species is estimated by using a 7-degree scale, and the same is done f...

The reproduction of Pohlia nutans (Hedw.) Lindb. and Pleurozium schreberi (Brid.) Mitt. were compared in the surroundings of copper smelters at Harjavalta, Finland. Samples of both species were collected from 16 sample plots, which were situated on a 12-km transect at intervals of half a kilometre from the smelters. As a result of pollution the pro...

This is the first paper of a series dealing with the bryoflora of Hunan Province in China. The vegetation, geology and geological history of Mangshan Nature Reserve and Wulingyuan Global Cultural Heritage Area are described and the collecting sites of the 1997 and 1999 bryological expeditions there are listed. Our 1 000 specimens studied so far rep...