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  • Publication
    Accès libre
    Malagasy Dracaena Vand. ex L. (Ruscaceae): an investigation of discrepancies between morphological features and spatial genetic structure at a small evolutionary scale
    (2009)
    Buerki, Sven
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    Callmander, Martin W.
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    Schüpfer, Fanny
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    Ravokatra, Mamy
    ;
    ;
    Alvarez, Nadir
    Malagasy Dracaena (Ruscaceae) are divided into four species and 14 varieties, all of them showing a high level of morphological diversity and a putatively artefactual circumscription. In order to reveal relationships between those entangled entities, a span of Malagasy Dracaena were sampled and analyzed using cpDNA sequences and AFLP. The cpDNA analyses resolved three biogeographic clades that are mostly inconsistent with morphology, since similar phenotypes are found across the three clades. Bayesian inference clustering analyses based on the AFLP were not in accordance with the cpDNA analysis. This result might be explained by (1) a recent origin of the Malagasy species of Dracaena with an incomplete sorting of chloroplast lineages; (2) a high amount of hybridizations; (3) a complex migration pattern. Interestingly, when the AFLP are analyzed using the parsimony criterion, a trend towards a directional evolution of inflorescence types and ecological features was observed. This might be considered either as phenotypic plasticity and/or as the result of fast evolution in flower characters according to habitat preferences. Overall, our results point to the difficulty of defining evolutionarily significant units in Malagasy Dracaena, emphasizing the complex speciation processes taking place in tropical regions.
  • Publication
    Accès libre
    Genetic structure and evolution of Alpine polyploid complexes: Ranunculus kuepferi (Ranunculaceae) as a case study
    (2009)
    Burnier, Julien
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    Buerki, Sven
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    Arrigo, Nils
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    ;
    Alvarez, Nadir
    The alpine white-flowered buttercup, Ranunculus kuepferi Greuter & Burdet, is a polyploid complex with diploids endemic to the southwestern Alps and polyploids – which have been previously described as apomictic – widespread throughout European mountains. Due to the polymorphic status of both its ploidy level and its reproductive mode, R. kuepferi represents a key species for understanding the evolution of polyploid lineages in alpine habitats. To disentangle the phylogeography of this polyploid taxon, we used cpDNA sequences and AFLP (amplified fragment length polymorphism) markers in 33 populations of R. kuepferi representative of its ploidy level and distribution area. Polyploid individuals were shown to be the result of at least two polyploidization events that may have taken place in the southwestern Alps. From this region, one single main migration of tetraploids colonized the entire Alpine range, the Apennines and Corsica. Genetic recombination among tetraploids was also observed, revealing the facultative nature of the apomictic reproductive mode in R. kuepferi polyploids. Our study shows the contrasting role played by diploid lineages mostly restricted to persistent refugia and by tetraploids, whose dispersal abilities have permitted their range extension all over the previously glaciated Alpine area and throughout neighbouring mountain massifs.
  • Publication
    Accès libre
    Molecular aspects in systematics of “Gentiana” sect. “Calathianae” Froel.
    (2007)
    Haemmerli, Marc
    ;
    Based on results from six different molecular studies and cytology, a taxonomic revision of Gentiana Sect. Calathianae Froel. is proposed. The revised section comprises two subsections: Subsect. Calathianae with three taxa having relatively low chromosome numbers, G. nivalis L. and G. utriculosa L. (annuals), and G. pumila Jacq. (perennial); and Subsect. Vernae (Tzevelev) Haemmerli stat. nov. with nine species and seven subspecies including G. verna L. (with two subspecies, G. verna subsp. verna, and G. verna subsp. delphinensis Kunz), G. tergestina Beck (with three subspecies, G. tergestina subsp. tergestina, G. tergestina subsp. balcanica Haemmerli, and G. tergestina subsp. pontica Haemmerli), G. sierrae Briquet, G. schleicheri Kunz, G. rostanii Reuter, G. bavarica L. (with two subspecies, G. bavarica subsp. bavarica , and G. bavarica L. subsp. subacaulis Müller), G. terglouensis Hacq., G. brachyphylla Vill., and G. orbicularis Schur . These results provide indications into the biogeography of the section. While several taxa such as G. pumila Hacq., G. bavarica L. subsp. subacaulis Müller, G. rostanii Reuter or G. verna L. subsp. delphinensis Kunz, G. terglouensis Hacq. or G. schleicheri Kunz are restricted to the Alpine chain, others occur on different European Mountain ranges (G. utriculosa L., G. sierrae Briq. and G. brachyphylla Vill.), but only few taxa also grow outside Europe (G. nivalis L., G. verna L, G. tergestina Beck and G. penetii Romo). Two species are not represented at all within the Alps: G. penetii Romo from Atlas Mts. and G. tergestina Beck including its subspecies from Dinaric Alps eastward, throughout minor Asia to the Altai Mts. Most taxa are limited to only a limited distribution area or to only one or few mountain ranges. Widespread taxa are the annual G. nivalis L. and the perennials G. verna L. s.str. and G. tergestina Beck s.l.