Pollen-mediated gene flow along an altitudinal gradient
Genetic connectivity is crucial in rapidly changing environments as it allows exchange and dispersal of adaptive genes among plant populations.
Posts Tagged “gene flow”
Biogeography of Prunus africana in Afromontane forests
Afromontane forest ecosystems share a high similarity of plant and animal biodiversity, although they occur mainly on isolated mountain massifs throughout the African continent. Kadu et al. use Prunus africana, one of the character trees of the ecosystem, as a model for understanding the biogeography of this vegetation zone and find strong genetic divergence amongst the [...]
Gene flow in mountain environments
Responses of high-mountain plant species to global change are highly influenced by the genetic background of the species, including genetic diversity or gene flow between populations. García-Fernández et al. study the genetic patterns of Silene ciliata (Caryophyllaceae), a high-mountain cushion plant that shows local adaptation to altitude, by examining populations along two altitudinal gradients on separate [...]
Inbreeding and outbreeding depression in Grevillea
For many Australian plants little is known about either their population genetics or the effects on mating systems of variation in pollen transfer distances. Forrest et al. manipulate pollination of Grevillea mucronulata to allow assessment of the reproductive success of crosses made within and among populations at varying distances and find evidence of both inbreeding [...]
Reproductive isolation and mycorrhizae in Orchis
Mycorrhizal fungi are needed for germination and seedling establishment in orchids, so associations may be involved in determining hybridization between species. Jacquemyn et al. show that in three species of the genus Orchis (O. anthropophora, O. militaris and O. purpurea) seeds originating from hybrid crosses readily germinate in the field, and protocorms show overlap in [...]
Gene dispersal in wild carrot populations
How far can a gene disperse? Historical and contemporary gene dispersal can be estimated from spatial genetic structure and paternity analysis, and Rong et al. (pp. 285–296) find that an estimate of gene flow in Daucus carota ssp. carota based on contemporary pollen dispersal is much larger than an estimate of historical flow. The results [...]
Genetic structuring in a large population of Arabidopsis
The perennial Arabidopsis lyrata is able to propagate both sexually and asexually, and this is expected to influence spatial genetic structure in the species. A fine-scale molecular study by Lundemo et al. (pp. 243–254) shows how a large, alpine population in Norway overall functions as a panmictic unit, while at the same time individual plants [...]