Premium
MORPHOLOGICAL VARIATION AND DEVELOPMENT IN RAMALINA MENZIESII TAYL.
Author(s) -
Larson Douglas W.
Publication year - 1983
Publication title -
american journal of botany
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.218
H-Index - 151
eISSN - 1537-2197
pISSN - 0002-9122
DOI - 10.1002/j.1537-2197.1983.tb12446.x
Subject(s) - biology , thallus , variation (astronomy) , lichen , latitude , population , botany , ecology , demography , geography , physics , astrophysics , geodesy , sociology
The common west coast lichen Ramalina menziesii Tayl. has been studied in an attempt to determine the extent of morphological variation and to understand the factors that determine its form. An analysis of a typical population near Santa Barbara, CA, suggested that intrapopulation variation in form was controlled primarily by size increase during growth. Test populations obtained from latitudes as far north as 54°N and as far south as 28°N had values for various morphological characters that were very similar to the Santa Barbara population. It is concluded that variation in form may be the result of differential rates of growth and possibly varying frequency of environmental stresses which disintegrate the thallus.