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Allozyme and chloroplast DNA variation in island and mainland populations of the rare Spanish endemic, Silene hifacensis (Caryophyllaceae)

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Abstract

Silene hifacensis is a narrowly endemicplant, restricted to a few small populations onlimestone cliffs in the Spanish province ofAlicante and on the Balearic island of Ibiza.The species was collected to extinction in itsoriginal mainland location by the early 20thcentury. Attempts have been made to reintroduceS. hifacensis to this area butconservation efforts are limited by a lack ofinformation on the geographic structure ofgenetic variation in the species. We usednuclear (allozyme) and chloroplast DNA (cpDNA)PCR/RFLP markers to investigate the structureof genetic variation in 2 mainland and 6 Ibizanpopulations. Levels of allozyme variation werelow, with a mean of 2 alleles per polymorphiclocus. Mean (over polymorphic loci) totalallozyme diversity (Htot) was 0.203 and meanwithin-population diversity (Hpop) was 0.085. Mostdiversity was explained by thebetween-population diversity component (Gpop.reg =57%). Both mainland populations showedallozyme fixation. Three composite cpDNAhaplotypes were identified. The first is uniqueto a mainland population that is alsoallozymically distinct from all the otherpopulations. The second haplotype is found inthe other mainland population and one Ibizanpopulation: these two populations areallozymically identical. The remaining Ibizanpopulations contain the third haplotype. Thegeographic distribution of allozymes and cpDNAhaplotypes is discussed in terms of populationhistory, dispersal and, speculatively, in termsof the possibility that there has beenundocumented translocation of material betweenpopulations.

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Author notes

  1. J. Ursula Malm

    Present address: Department of Applied Biology, University of Helsinki, PO Box 27, FIN-00014, Finland

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Systematic Botany, Department of Ecology, Lund University, Sölvegatan 37, SE-223 62, Lund, Sweden

    Honor C. Prentice & J. Ursula Malm

  2. Departamento de Biología Vegetal, Facultad de Biología, Universidad de Valencia, C/Dr. Moliner 50, E-46 100, Burjassot, Valencia, Spain

    Isabel Mateu-Andrés & J. Gabriel Segarra-Moragues

  3. Dpt. Agricultura y Economia Agraria, Fac. Veterinaria, Universidad de Zaragoza, C/Miguel Servet 177, E-50 013, Zaragoza, Spain

    J. Gabriel Segarra-Moragues

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  1. Honor C. Prentice
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Correspondence to Honor C. Prentice.

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Prentice, H.C., Ursula Malm, J., Mateu-Andrés, I. et al. Allozyme and chloroplast DNA variation in island and mainland populations of the rare Spanish endemic, Silene hifacensis (Caryophyllaceae). Conservation Genetics 4, 543–555 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1025603328704

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