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LIFE HISTORY VARIATION WITHIN POPULATIONS OF AN ASEXUAL PLANT, ERIGERON ANNUUS (ASTERACEAE)
Author(s) -
Stratton Donald A.
Publication year - 1991
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.1537-2197.1991.tb12596.x
Subject(s) - biology , apomixis , heritability , germination , asteraceae , botany , genetic variation , shoot , range (aeronautics) , evolutionary biology , ploidy , gene , biochemistry , materials science , composite material
Genetic variation was measured for several morphological and life history characters in Erigeron annum, a triploid and obligately apomictic species. There was significant genetic variation for nearly all characters measured, including plant size, growth rate, time of flowering, biomass allocation to roots and shoots, seed weight, and germination response to temperature. Variance among genotypes accounted for up to 55% of the total phenotypic variance, well within the range of heritabilities observed for sexual species. These estimates of broad‐sense heritability predict substantial short‐term response to selection on life history characters in this asexual species.