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Revised systematics of Mediterranean Arundo (Poaceae) based on AFLP fingerprints and morphology
Author(s) -
Hardion Laurent,
Verlaque Régine,
Baumel Alex,
Juin Marianick,
Vila Bruno
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
taxon
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.819
H-Index - 81
eISSN - 1996-8175
pISSN - 0040-0262
DOI - 10.1002/tax.616004
Subject(s) - amplified fragment length polymorphism , biology , systematics , mediterranean climate , botany , genetic diversity , arundo donax , taxon , poaceae , genus , taxonomy (biology) , evolutionary biology , ecology , population , demography , sociology , biofuel
The systematics of the genus Arundo (Poaceae) remains poorly resolved because of the overlap of morphological characters classically used in the taxonomy of the genus and insufficient variation of DNA sequences. The main aim of this study is to delimit genetic clusters with AFLP fingerprints and to compare them with morphological data. On the basis of extensive sampling in the Mediterranean area, AFLP markers clearly showed five clusters. Despite overlapping values, morphometric analyses strongly confirm these clusters, and new qualitative features allow the recognition of five taxa: the Taiwanese A. formosana , the cosmopolitan A. donax , the circum‐Mediterranean A. micrantha , the Italo‐Balkan A. plinii and the Franco‐Ligurian A. donaciformis (Loisel.) Hardion & al. comb. nov. Additionally, this study shows a correlation between genetic diversity, caryopsis production and ploidy level. However, the lack of genetic diversity for A. micrantha and A. donax in the Mediterranean area remains enigmatic.