Quaternary glaciations strongly affected the distribution of species from arid and semi-arid environments, as temperature drops were accompanied by strong fluctuations in rainfall. In this study, Ossa and colleagues...
The Neotropical savanna fruiting tree species, Hancornia speciosa (Apocynaceae) has high social and economic importance in Brazil. Originally classified as six botanical varieties, more recently only two have been...
Alpine oceanic ecosystems are considered amongst the most ephemeral and restricted habitats, with a biota highly vulnerable to climate changes and disturbances. As an example of an alpine insular endemic, RodrΓguez...
The genus Boechera (Brassicaceae) is comprised of both sexual and apomictic species, permitting comparative analyses of meiotic disturbances and parthenogenesis. Hybridization, polyploidy and environmental adaptation...
Genetic diversity was highest in above-ground populations, though below-ground populations contained 8 % of unique alleles that were absent above-ground.
Asexual reproduction is relatively common in higher plants and comprises vegetative reproduction or clonal reproduction through seeds (apomixis or agamospermy). Apomixis is found in less than 1% of angiosperms and...
A propensity to form polyploid hybrids is a peculiar feature of roses. Herklotz and Ritz investigate the population genetics of forty five mixed stands of dog roses across Central and South-Eastern Europe using...
Oceanic islands are of particular importance for the conservation of global diversity. Rare island plants with small population sizes and unique genetic patterns resulting from prolonged evolutionary isolation are...
The analysis of genetic structure and variability of isolated species is of critical importance in evaluating whether stochastic or human-caused factors are affecting rare species. Low genetic diversity compromises the...
Historical and ongoing hybridization between the oak species Quercus petraea and Q. robur leads to difficulty in identifying the taxonomic status of individual trees. Despite this, Beatty et al. using genetic and...
Polyploidy in plants has been studied extensively. In many groups, two or more cytotypes represent separate biological entities with distinct distributions, histories and ecology. MandΓ‘k et al. analysed ploidy level...