Floral and mating system divergence in secondary sympatry: testing an alternative hypothesis to reinforcement in Clarkia.

ABSTRACT:

Background and aims

Reproductive character displacement (RCD) is often an important signature of reinforcement when partially cross-compatible taxa meet in secondary sympatry. In this study, floral evolution is examined during the Holocene range expansion of Clarkia xantiana subsp. parviflora from eastern Pleistocene refugia to a western zone of sympatry with its sister taxon, subsp. xantiana. Floral divergence between the two taxa is greater in sympatry than allopatry. The goal was to test an alternative hypothesis to reinforcement - that floral divergence of sympatric genotypes is simply a by-product of adaptation to pollination environments that differ between the allopatric and sympatric portions of the subspecies' range.

Methods

Floral trait data from two common garden

SUBMITTER: Briscoe Runquist RD 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3890389 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature