Low genetic diversity contrasts with high phenotypic variability in heptaploid Spartina densiflora populations invading the Pacific coast of North America.

ABSTRACT: Species can respond to environmental pressures through genetic and epigenetic changes and through phenotypic plasticity, but few studies have evaluated the relationships between genetic differentiation and phenotypic plasticity of plant species along changing environmental conditions throughout wide latitudinal ranges. We studied inter- and intrapopulation genetic diversity (using simple sequence repeats and chloroplast DNA sequencing) and inter- and intrapopulation phenotypic variability of 33 plant traits (using field and common-garden measurements) for five populations of the invasive cordgrass Spartina densiflora Brongn. along the Pacific coast of North America from San Francisco Bay to Vancouver Island. Studied populations showed very low genetic diversity, high levels of pheno

SUBMITTER: Castillo JM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5980529 | biostudies-literature | 2018 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature