Introgression in peripheral populations and colonization shape the genetic structure of the coastal shrub Armeria pungens.

ABSTRACT: The coastal shrub Armeria pungens has a disjunct Atlantic-Mediterranean distribution. The historic range expansion underlying this distribution was investigated using the nuclear internal transcribed spacer region, three plastid regions (namely trnL-F, trnS-fM and matK) and morphometric data. A highly diverse ancestral lineage was identified in southwest Portugal. More recently, two areas have been colonized: (1) Corsica and Sardinia, where disjunct Mediterranean populations have been established as a result of the long-distance dispersal of Portuguese genotypes, and (2) the southern part of the Atlantic range, Gulf of Cadiz, where a distinct lineage showing no genetic differentiation among populations occurs. Genetic consequences of colonization seem to have been more severe in the Gulf o

SUBMITTER: Pineiro R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3183879 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature