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First published online March 11, 2009; doi:10.3732/ajb.0800242 American Journal of Botany 96: 728-737 (2009) © 2009 Botanical Society of America, Inc.

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Morphological and genetic variations of Potentilla matsumurae (Rosaceae) between fellfield and snowbed populations¹

² National Institute for Agro-Environmental Sciences, Tsukuba 305-8604, Japan ³ Aichi University of Education, Kariya 448-8542, Japan ⁴ Institute of Mountain Science, Shinshu University, Matsumoto 390-8621, Japan ⁵ Center for Far Eastern Studies, University of Toyama, Gofuku 930-8555, Japan ⁶ Graduate School of Environmental Earth Science, Hokkaido University, Sapporo 060-0810, Japan

ABSTRACT

Identifying ecological factors associated with local differentiation of populations is important for understanding microevolutionary processes. Alpine environments offer a unique opportunity to investigate the effects of habitat-specific selective forces and gene flow limitations among populations at a microscale on local adaptation because the heterogeneous snowmelt patterns in alpine ecosystems provide steep environmental changes. We investigated the variation in morphological traits and enzyme loci between fellfield and snowbed populations of Potentilla matsumurae, a common alpine herb with a wide distribution along snowmelt gradients in northern Japan. We found significant differences in morphological traits between fellfield and snowbed habitats in a northern distribution region. These differences were maintained when plants were grown under uniform conditions in a greenhouse. Allozyme variations among 15 populations from geographically separated regions with different historical backgrounds showed that the populations are more genetically differentiated between the fellfield and snowbed habitats within a region than between populations occupying the same habitat type in different regions. These results suggest that variation in snowmelt regimes could be a driving force creating local adaptation and genetic differentiation of alpine plant populations.

Key Words: allozymes • alpine habitat • genetic differentiation • local adaptation • morphological variation • phenological isolation • Potentilla matsumurae • Rosaceae

Received for publication 14 July 2008. Accepted for publication 22 December 2008.

FOOTNOTES

¹ The authors thank S. Suzuki, T. Kasagi, and M. Ohara for their valuable suggestions, K. Matsunaga and S. Kasagi for assistance in the field and laboratory work, and A. Shimono for assistance in interpreting the isozyme results. This study was partly supported by a Grant-in-Aid (#10740355) from the Japanese Ministry of Education, Science, Sports and Culture to G.K.

⁷ Author for correspondence (e-mail: yotti{at}affrc.go.jp)

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