PARENT SESSION
Organized Oral Session 23: The use of spatially explicit data in ecological investigations
Organizer(s): K Conrad, J Holland, and L Rew
Tuesday, August 9, 1:30 PM - 5:00 PM, Meeting Room 511 C, Level 5, Palais des congrès de Montréal
Landscape genetics of shade avoidance responses in Impatiens capensiss, a North American annual.
von Wettberg, Eric*,1, Remington, David2, Schmitt, Johanna1, 1 Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Providence, RI, USA2 Department of Biology, Greensboro, NC, USA
ABSTRACT- Patterns of local adaption to varying habitat features depend in part on the scale of variation of significant habitat characteristics and the spatial and temporal distribution of genetic variation for adaptive traits. Variation in overhead vegetative canopy cover can lead to population differentiation in sensitivity to overhead shading in herbaceous plants that inhabit forest understory and open canopy habitats, such as the widespread North American annual Impatiens capensis, depending on gene flow, patterns of genetic variation, and selection. In this study we use spatially explicit measures of overhead canopy cover, and neutral molecular and quantative genetic data to examine regional patterns of sun and shade differentiation in Impatiens capensis. We aim to determine if sun-shade differentiation occurs regularly, how often it originates, and whether it occurs through similar shifts in quantitative genetic variation.
Key words: Population differentiation, Local adaptation, Landscape genetics, Replicated evolution