Aspen Bibliography

Ecogenetic Patterns of Four Shrub Species in Semi-Arid Communities of Northwest Colorado USA

Document Type

Article

Journal/Book Title/Conference

Southwestern Naturalist

Volume

31

Issue

3

First Page

319

Last Page

330

Publication Date

1986

Abstract

A garden plot transplant study of four shrub species native to the Piceance Basin and other areas of Colorado and southern Wyoming showed three patterns of intraspecific genetic variation. 1) Negligible variation occurred among populations of Purshia tridentata (bitterbrush) and Cercocarpus montanus (mountain mahogany). 2) Interpopulation variation occurred among Symphoricarpos oreophilus (snowberry) populations, but most of the differences could not be interpreted on an adaptive basis because no strict correspondence between plant trait and biotic or abiotic habitat features was found. Either several adaptive combinations exist within this species or selection is relatively unimportant in accounting for the distribution of S. oreophilus in the landscape. 3) Genetic variation among populations of Amelanchier utahensis (serviceberry) corresponded, in part, with the community of origin. Populations from Douglas fir and aspen communities had large leaves, long stems, and slow growth, indicative of adaptation to a closed canopy. Populations from open sagebrush and piñon-juniper communities generally had small leaves and short stems, suggestive of selection in a water--but not light--limited environment. Populations from mixed mesic shrub communities had short stems and rapid growth in contrast to plants from mixed xeric shrub communities. But even for this species the constraint of selection may be accompanied in the landscape by other causes of genetic differentiation.

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