An ecoregional analysis of morphological variation in British Columbia coastal strawberries (Fragaria) for germplasm protection

Abstract

analysis of morphological variation in British Columbia coastal strawberries (Fragaria) for germplasm protection. J. Plant Sci. 78: 117-124. In order to enhance the utilization and protection of wild Fragaria germplasm from coastal British Columbia, patterns of morphological variation were assessed in plants from the Pacific coastal region of Canada. Twenty-five characters were evaluated in 87 plants grown in the uniform garden at the Canadian clonal genebank. Seven characters including the number of veins, length of the terminal tooth, roundness of tooth, tooth distribution, leaf thickness, leaf color and leaf surface were significant at the 5% level in distinguishing ecoregional groupings, and a discriminant analysis was also significant. The major pattern of variation involved plants from southern Vancouver Island to the upper Strait of Georgia, ecoregions 192 and 194, which have thinner, paler, more glaucous leaves with less broadly rounded teeth, suggesting hybridization of F. chiloensis with F. virginiana. A clustering of ecoregional group centroids using the unweighted pair group method with arithmetic averages indicated that, in order to optimally protect genetic variation, 28.35% of the protected accessions should be selected from each of ecoregions 192 and 194, with ecoregion 191 accounting for 15.98%, and the remaining ecoregions contributing 13.66% of accessions. 78: 117-124. Dans le but de stimuler l'utilisation et la conservation du patrimoine génétique des fraisiers sauvages (Fragaria) du littoral de la Colombie-Britannique, nous avons évalué le tableau de la variabilité morphologique des plantes de cette région. Vingt-cinq caractères étaient pris en compte chez 87 plantes cultivées dans une pépinière uniforme de la banque de clônes canadienne. Sept de ces caractères avaient une valeur significative au seuil de probabilité de 5 % comme indice de distinction des groupements écorégionaux, ce sont: le nombre des nervures foliaires, la longueur de la dent apicale, le degré d'arrondissement et la répartition des dents, l'épaisseur, la couleur et la surface de la feuille. L'analyse discriminante faisait ressortir encore davantage (P = 0,01) la discrimination des plantes selon les écorégions. La majeure partie de la variabilité s'observait sur des plantes provenant du sud de l'île Vancouver au nord du détroit de Georgie, soit les écorégions 192 et 194 qui ont des feuilles plus minces, plus pâles et plus glauques, aux dents moins largement arrondies, laissant soupçonner un phénomène d'hybridation entre Fragaria chiloensis et F. virginiana. La classification hiérarchique des centroïdes des groupements écorégionaux selon la méthode des groupes de paires non pondérées utilisant les moyennes arithmétiques a permis de constater que pour assurer une protection idéale de la variation génétique, 28,35 % des obtentions protégées devraient provenir de chacune des écorégions 192 et 194, la proportion étant de 15,98 % pour l'écorégion 191 et de 13,66 % pour le reste des écorégions.

Bioclimatic, ecological, and phenotypic intermediacy and high genetic admixture in a natural hybrid of octoploid strawberries

“…Hancock and Bringhurst (1979) suggested that the morphological differences between these species played a major adaptive role in their ecogeographic distribution, especially in regard to water retention and use. It has been suggested that the hybrid might display morphological intermediacy ( Catling and Porebski, 1998b ;Staudt, 1999 ) and reside in an intermediate habitat, yet this has not been broadly tested, nor has a bioclimatic examination of the hybrid zone been undertaken. Moreover, although a previous study with limited sampling revealed that either parent can serve as maternal donor of F. × ananassa subsp.…”

Climate change increases net CO2assimilation in the leaves of strawberry, but not yield

“…The anatomy of the leaves varies with the genotype and environment (Jurik et al, 1982;Salamone et al, 2013). Catling and Porebski (1998) studied the morphology of 87 plants of F. chiloensis and F. virginiana from the Pacific coast of Canada. The leaves were rated from thin (index of one) to thick (index of three).…”