Relations between western Balkan endemicCampanulaL. (Campanulaceae) lineages: Evidence from chloroplast DNA

Abstract

The relationships among western Balkan and some amphi-Adriatic endemic campanulas were studied using RFLP analysis of the 1.8-kb trnT -trnF chloroplast DNA region. The results were compared to those of a comparative floral morphometry study performed earlier on a similar sample. Maximum parsimony and distance methods produced very similar results to those of the floral morphometry, both of which point to a clear separation of the taxa into three main clades. The first isophyllous, or Garganicae series, clade comprised Campanula poscharskyana, C. portenschlagiana, C. garganica, C. reatina and two C. fenestrellata-subspecies. The second ''isophylloid'' clade consisted of C. pyramidalis agg., C. waldsteiniana agg. and C. carpatica. The third, heterophyllous clade was very uniform, comprising undistinguishable taxa of the C. rotundifolia complex and alpine endemic C. cochleariifolia. Interestingly the Ligurian stenoendemic C. isophylla was clearly separated from the members of the ser. Garganicae, C. reatina was the most distant taxon in the Garganicae clade, the controversial species Asyneuma pichleri was nested inside the Campanula core, while Campanula carpatica was closer to the ''isophylloids'' than to the sect. Rapunculus Boiss. In order to resolve the taxonomic uncertainty among the closely related heterophyllous taxa more refined molecular methods, e.g. AFLP or microsatellites, should be applied.

Assessing the genetic diversity ofCentaurea parlatorisgroup (sect.Dissectae, Compositae) in Sicily using isozymes

“…average polymorphism (P) ¼ 0.52, average number of alleles per locus (A) ¼ 1.74, and Nei's gene diversity (H) ¼ 0.19, are higher than those typical for endemic and narrowly distributed taxa (Loveless & Hamrick 1988;Hamrick & Godt 1989;Dejoode & Wendel 1992;Frèville et al 1998;Palermo et al 2002). Potential explanations for the higher than expected levels of diversity includes evolutionary origin, population size and mating system (Neel & Ellstrand 2003;Liber et al 2008).…”

<I>Campanula skanderbegii</I>: Molecular and Morphological Evidence of a New <I>Campanula</I> Species (Campanulaceae) Endemic to Albania

“…1). Although previously defined as a part of the Isophylla group (Damboldt 1965), recent phylogenetic studies based on plastid and ITS sequences (Park et al 2006;Liber et al 2008;Frajman and Schneeweiss 2009;Bogdanović et al 2014) have rejected the monophyly of the Isophylla group and revealed three well supported clades corresponding to series Elatines Trin., ser. Fragiles Trinajstić, and ser.…”

Ecology and niche assembly of campanula tommasiniana, a narrow endemic of mt učka (Liburnian Karst, north-western Adriatic)

“…Results of our analyses suggest that Campanula tommasiniana is a chasmophyte of open and exposed habitats in the altimontane to subalpine vegetation belt, a similar niche preference (see HORVAT 1931) also for the closely related (see PARK et al 2006, LIBER et al 2008) but allopatric C. waldsteiniana, another endemic of the north-western Dinaric Alps.…”