Abstract Detail

Resistance, emigration, or adaptation? Phylogeography and ecology of European alpine plant species

Dixon, Chris [1], Schneeweiss, Gerald [1], Niklfeld, Harald [1].

Phylogenetic and Phylogeographic Relationships in the High Mountain Species of Androsace section Aretia (Primulaceae).

Recent molecular phylogenetic investigations have shown that the European Androsace section Aretia forms a monophyletic group, together with the amphi-Beringian genus Douglasia and the monotypic European genus Vitaliana. The European species are found throughout the mountain ranges of central and southern Europe, with centers of species richness in the Alps and Pyrenees. Species of Androsace section Aretia have similar dispersal abilities and floral syndromes and show a wide range of distribution types, from widespread to very restricted, and both intraspecific disjunction and sister-taxon vicariance are present. These qualities make this group a good model system for studying the formation and results of disjunctions at a range of levels in a group of closely-related species.
We applied Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphism (AFLP) to investigate phylogeographic patterns within species with contrasting distribution patterns. For instance, the pioneer species Androsace alpina has a wide and continuous distribution area in the Alps and shows a phylogeographical structure congruent with putative Pleistocene refugia in the eastern and southwestern parts of the Alps as inferred for other species. Androsace wulfeniana and A. hausmannii, conversely, have disjunct distributions in the Eastern Alps. While the silicicolous A. wulfeniana shows strong phylogeographical structure indicating the survival in several separate refugia, the calcicolous A. hausmannii shows no discernible structure, maybe due to survival in only one strongly bottlenecked population and postglacial re-colonization via long-distance dispersal. Disjunctions over larger scales are examined in Androsace helvetica and A. vandellii, which are widespread in the Alps and the Pyrenees, the latter also in the Sierra Nevada.

Related Links:
Androsace phylogeny and phylogeography

1 - University of Vienna, Institute for Botany, Department of Plant Biogeography, Rennweg 14, Vienna, A 1030, Austria

Keywords:
AFLP
phylogeography
Androsace
Pleistocene
phylogeny
European Alpine System.

Presentation Type: Symposium
Session: 48-5
Location: Ballroom 2 (Cliff Lodge)
Date: Wednesday, August 4th, 2004
Time: 11:30 AM
Abstract ID:109