VOGEL, JOHANNES C.1*, FREDERICK J. RUMSEY1, J. JAKOB SCHNELLER3, JOHN A. BARRETT2, AND MARY GIBBY1. 1Conservation Biology Laboratory, Department of Botany, The Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London SW7 5BD, UK; 2Department of Genetics, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3EH, UK; 3Institut für Systematische Botanik, Universität Zürich, Zollikerstr. 107, 8008 Zürich, CH. - Where are the glacial refugia in Europe?
The genus Asplenium in Europe comprises some 50 taxa: half of
these are diploid while the other half are polyploids derived from the
diploids. All Aspleniums in Europe are (small) rock ferns with high
substrate specificity. Today, most of mainland Europe, Scandinavia and
the British Isles has been colonised by polyploid Asplenium
species, while the diploids that gave rise to these polyploids are
distributed (and confined, more or less) around the Mediterranean
Basin. In our research we investigate genetic variation and population
distribution in polyploid complexes in Asplenium to locate
centres of genetic diversity. The partitioning of genetic variation
and discontinuities in the distribution of breeding systems in diploid
and tetraploid taxa can help to locate the areas in Europe that are
refugia for biodiversity, and are likely to have been so since the
beginning of the Pleistocene during the consecutive cold and warm
periods in Europe.
Key words: allozymes, Asplenium, breeding
systems, genetic diversity, glacial refugia