Abstract Detail

Recent Topics Posters

Spriggs, Elizabeth [1], Eaton, Deren [2], Schlutius, Caroline [3], Donoghue, Michael [4].

Parallel phylogeographic histories of two widespread Viburnum species complexes revealed with RADseq data.

Many plant species in temperate forests have broad geographic ranges and inhabit a series of disparate environments. Significant morphological heterogeneity frequently accompanies these large distributions and can lead to taxonomic uncertainty with some lineages better characterized as species complexes than cleanly delimited. Two such wide-ranging species complexes are Viburnum dentatum and V. nudum, both of which occur throughout the Eastern United States and have been variously described as single heterogeneous species or small clades of several species. Within both complexes, geographically structured trait variation has been used to describe segregates, however, these distinctions have not been consistent across treatments nor have they been evaluated in a phylogenetic context. We assessed trait variation and population structure within both species complexes based on field collections of over 300 individuals and restriction site associated DNA (RAD) sequencing of 130 plants. Analyses of RADseq data found genetic structure at odds with traditional species delimitations. In both complexes, northern populations were nested within a paraphyletic grade of southern individuals, a pattern consistent with recent migration northward from southern glacial refugia.  Although northern populations of both species complexes are phenotypically distinct, geographically contiguous, and monophyletic, they are nested within southern lineages that are both more phenotypically diverse and more genetically divergent. We posit that this pattern of morphological and genetic diversity persisting near glacial refugia and northern populations recently derived from a subset of ancient southern diversity may be common in many temperate plant species.

1 - Yale University, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, 21 Sachem St., ESC 358C, New Haven, CT, 06511, USA
2 - Yale University, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, 21 Sachem st., Environmental Science Center 366, New Haven, CT, 06511, USA
3 - Yale University, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, 21 Sachem St., Environmental Science Center 358, New Haven, CT, 06511, USA
4 - Yale University, Department Of Ecology And Evolutionary Biology, 21 Sachem Street, PO BOX 208105, New Haven, CT, 06511, USA

Keywords:
Phylogeography
Viburnum
morphological evolution
species delimitation.

Presentation Type: Recent Topics Poster
Session: P, Recent Topics Posters
Location: Exhibit Hall/Savannah International Trade and Convention Center
Date: Monday, August 1st, 2016
Time: 5:30 PM
Number: PRT012
Abstract ID:1180
Candidate for Awards:None