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Genetic Variability and its Geographical Distribution in the Widely Disjunct Cavernularia Hultenii

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 March 2007

C. Printzen
Affiliation:
Universitetet i Bergen, Botanisk Institutt, Allégaten 41, N-5007 Bergen, Norway.
S. Ekman
Affiliation:
Universitetet i Bergen, Botanisk Institutt, Allégaten 41, N-5007 Bergen, Norway.

Abstract

The fruticose lichen Cavernularia hultenii exhibits a strongly disjunct distribution between north-western North America, Newfoundland and north-western Europe. An investigation of its population structure, based on nuclear ITS and IGS DNA sequences, shows that western North America has a higher number of haplotypes than the two other areas. Most of the haplotypes confined to this region are rare and occur outside the area that was affected by Pleistocene glaciations. Three haplotypes are common in all three areas. The high number of haplotypes in western North America might be due to a combination of events during the Pleistocene and Holocene epochs, viz. increased lineage survival by repeated fragmentation of populations and reduced lineage extinction through rapid postglacial expansion and population growth.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © British Lichen Society 2002

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