Isolated populations have potential to become new species that should have less genetic variation than their ancestors. Small populations are more likely to lose genetic variation, which is, thus, expected to be greater in ancestors. Aliciella caespitosa and A. tenuis, two endemic species, may be derived from small populations of A. subnuda, a widespread species. Chloroplast DNA sequences were used to test this hypothesis. Allozyme data were used to compare genetic variation and numbers of alleles. Chloroplast data do not support the proposed relationships between A. subnuda and the other two species. Allozyme data were not more variable in A. subnuda. The data suggest that A. tenuis is derived from A. caespitosa, although the former did not show lower allozyme diversity. I detected fewer alleles in A. tenuis. These data suggest that the original population of A. tenuis was not small enough to lose genetic variation relative to its progenitor.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UTAHS/oai:digitalcommons.usu.edu:etd-8449 |
| Date | 01 May 2001 |
| Creators | McCracken, Carrie L. |
| Publisher | DigitalCommons@USU |
| Source Sets | Utah State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | All Graduate Theses and Dissertations |
| Rights | Copyright for this work is held by the author. Transmission or reproduction of materials protected by copyright beyond that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of the copyright owners. Works not in the public domain cannot be commercially exploited without permission of the copyright owner. Responsibility for any use rests exclusively with the user. For more information contact digitalcommons@usu.edu. |
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