2005/08/11 by Elvia Meléndez‐Ackerman, Pablo Speranza, W. John Kress +6 · 1 citation
Agricultural and Biological Sciences · Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · #Plant and animal studies #Genetic diversity and population structure #Plant Reproductive Biology #Biology #Outcrossing #Amplified fragment length polymorphism #Genetic variation #Evolutionary biology #Bract #Genetic diversity #Population #Genetic drift #Selfing #Genetic structure #Inflorescence #Botany #Genetics
paper · doi:10.1086/431231
openalex publication_date 2005/08/11 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/30
Heliconia bihai is a highly polymorphic species. Populations of the species are distributed throughout the Lesser Antilles and northern South America; the most obvious sign of polymorphism is manifested through differences in bract color. This variation has been attributed to pollinator‐mediated selection, but other processes are also plausible. To test the potential contribution of drift in the evolution of phenotypic variation in this system, we examined the distribution of morphological and genetic variation within and between populations of H. bihai in the Caribbean islands of St. Vincent and St. Lucia. Morphological characterization was limited to flower and inflorescence characteristics, including bract color. AFLPs were used to investigate levels of genetic diversity within and between populations. Genetic similarity among individuals was equivalent to that expected for conspecific individuals. Levels of AFLP and population subdivision were high and were comparable to those of outcrossing species in one island, but they were low and comparable with selfing or clonal species in the other, indicating that genetic variation between islands may be under different evolutionary regimes. There was a significant geographical structure in morphological variation, but this was considerably less pronounced than that found at the genetic level except for bract color patterns, which were different for different islands. We found no correlation between genetic similarity and geographic distance or between genetic similarity and morphological similarity. Observed patterns of genetic and morphological variation in H. bihai suggest that genetic drift is likely to have had a minor role in their development. Instead, these patterns are consistent with phenomena such as selection, inbreeding, and habitat fragmentation that may be operating independently at different spatial scales.