Abstract

We studied genetic effects of the colonisation process during primary succession by analysing allozyme variation at a PGI locus in differently aged populations of Moehringia trinervia, which is a selfing annual with low dispersal ability. The populations studied come from islands and shores created in the 1880s by a drop in the water table of a Swedish lake and from old parts of a large island and of the mainland. The population age is known from five vegetation analyses over a century. We have also analysed the genetic composition of M trinervia derived from seeds in the soil. Mainland populations had a higher genetic diversity than island populations that were little differentiated and differed genetically from the mainland populations. There was no temporal trend in the distribution of genetic variation on the new islands. The presence of alleles in the extant populations was associated with the proportion of that allele in the seed bank, indicating a main recruitment from the seed bank and not by repeated immigrations. We suggest that some of the new islands were colonised by a few early founders from the mainland. Later colonisation has occurred between adjacent islands, which preserves the founder effect and could explain the uniform, low genetic variation in the island populations

Published in

Nordic Journal of Botany
2002, Volume: 22, number: 3, pages: 303-311
Publisher: NORDIC JOURNAL OF BOTANY

SLU Authors

• Grandin, Ulf

  • Department of Aquatic Sciences and Assessment, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

UKÄ Subject classification

Environmental Sciences related to Agriculture and Land-use


Publication identifier

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1756-1051.2002.tb01375.x

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/657