Deep genetic divergence between disjunct Refugia in the Arctic-Alpine King's Crown, Rhodiola integrifolia (Crassulaceae).

ABSTRACT: Despite the strength of climatic variability at high latitudes and upper elevations, we still do not fully understand how plants in North America that are distributed between Arctic and alpine areas responded to the environmental changes of the Quaternary. To address this question, we set out to resolve the evolutionary history of the King's Crown, Rhodiola integrifolia using multi-locus population genetic and phylogenetic analyses in combination with ecological niche modeling. Our population genetic analyses of multiple anonymous nuclear loci revealed two major clades within R. integrifolia that diverged from each other ~ 700 kya: one occurring in Beringia to the north (including members of subspecies leedyi and part of subspecies integrifolia), and the other restricted to the Southern Ro

SUBMITTER: DeChaine EG 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3838311 | biostudies-literature | 2013

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature