Evolution and ecology meet molecular genetics: adaptive phenotypic plasticity in two isolated Negev desert populations of Acacia raddiana at either end of a rainfall gradient.

ABSTRACT:

Background and aims

The ecological, evolutionary and genetic bases of population differentiation in a variable environment are often related to the selection pressures that plants experience. We compared differences in several growth- and defence-related traits in two isolated populations of Acacia raddiana trees from sites at either end of an extreme environmental gradient in the Negev desert.

Methods

We used random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) to determine the molecular differences between populations. We grew plants under two levels of water, three levels of nutrients and three levels of herbivory to test for phenotypic plasticity and adaptive phenotypic plasticity.

Key results

The RAPD analyses showed that these populations are highly genetically differentiate

SUBMITTER: Ward D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3241593 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature