Variable clonality and genetic structure among disjunct populations of Banksia mimica
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RESEARCH ARTICLE
Variable clonality and genetic structure among disjunct populations of Banksia mimica Melissa A. Millar1 · Margaret Byrne1 Received: 2 February 2020 / Accepted: 23 June 2020 © © Crown Copyright 2020 State of Western Australia 2020
Abstract Various factors influence patterns of genetic diversity within and between populations that are important considerations for plant conservation. Both clonality and population genetic differentiation are key factors informing conservation actions, especially for rare species. Banksia mimica is a rare species that occurs in three disjunct locations in the biodiversity hotspot of the southwest Australian Floristic Region of Western Australia. Extant populations are suspected to have varying levels of clonality and high levels of genetic differentiation due to geographic disjunction. A genetic analysis was undertaken in order to confirm clonal reproduction and obtain initial estimates of genotypic diversity, and to assess genetic diversity within, and genetic structure among, populations. Genotypic richness ranged from 0.210 to 1.00 supporting observations in the field of variable degrees of clonal growth. The most clonal populations showed genetic signals of greater levels of observed heterozygosity than expected heterozygosity and negative FIS values that were not present in other populations of B. mimica or populations of the nonclonal sister taxon B. vestita. There was strong genetic structure with high genetic divergence among geographically disjunct population groups (global FST = 0.392, DST = 0.475), as is often found within the Australian flora. Genetic differentiation among disjunct populations located on the Whicher Scarp and more northern populations approached, or was greater than, that between Whicher populations and populations of the sister taxa B. vestita. This result is consistent with several other species that show genetic differentiation in disjunct populations located on the Whicher Scarp geomorphological formation. Results suggest a reassessment of the taxonomy and identification of evolutionary significant units for populations of B. mimica would support effective conservation management of this species. Keywords Banksia · Clonality · Conservation management · Genetic divergence · Rarity · Taxonomic revision
Introduction Clonality is widespread and occurs in many plant species to varying degrees (Richards 1986; Eckert 2002). It is especially prevalent in the small populations typical of rare species as compared with more common and widespread species. The specific situations in which plant species or populations favour clonality over asexual reproduction Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (https://doi.org/10.1007/s10592-020-01288-0) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. * Melissa A. Millar [email protected] 1
Biodiversity and Conservation Science, Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions, Locked Bag 104, Bentley Delivery Centre, Be
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