Divergent selection along climatic gradients in a rare central European endemic species, Saxifraga sponhemica.

ABSTRACT:

Background and aims

The effects of habitat fragmentation on quantitative genetic variation in plant populations are still poorly known. Saxifraga sponhemica is a rare endemic of Central Europe with a disjunct distribution, and a stable and specialized habitat of treeless screes and cliffs. This study therefore used S. sponhemica as a model species to compare quantitative and molecular variation in order to explore (1) the relative importance of drift and selection in shaping the distribution of quantitative genetic variation along climatic gradients; (2) the relationship between plant fitness, quantitative genetic variation, molecular genetic variation and population size; and (3) the relationship between the differentiation of a trait among populations and its evolvability.

Met

SUBMITTER: Walisch TJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4648456 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature