Full Text Available

Access Repository
Note: Clicking the button above will open the full text document at the original institutional repository in a new window.
Cover Image

Seasonal rainfall regime modulates genetic variation in the moss Pseudocrossidium crinitum

Patterns of genetic variation, resulting from Pliocene-Pleistocene climate shifts have been largely documented for species from Europe. However, little is known from Africa and especially South Africa, where climate shifts have often been invoked to explain the amazingly high diversity of the Cape F...

Full description

Saved in:
Main Author: Wilding, Nicholas
Other Authors: Hedderson, Terry A
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: Department of Biological Sciences 2017
Subjects:
Botany
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1867614181464735744
access_status_str Open Access
author Wilding, Nicholas
author2 Hedderson, Terry A
author_browse Hedderson, Terry A
Wilding, Nicholas
author_facet Hedderson, Terry A
Wilding, Nicholas
author_sort Wilding, Nicholas
collection Thesis
description Patterns of genetic variation, resulting from Pliocene-Pleistocene climate shifts have been largely documented for species from Europe. However, little is known from Africa and especially South Africa, where climate shifts have often been invoked to explain the amazingly high diversity of the Cape Floristic Region. An analysis of cpDNA and nDNA sequence variation for 65 populations of the moss Pseudocrossidium crinitum across South Africa revealed the presence of a phylogeographic break corresponding to the split between the winter-rainfall zone (WRZ) and the all-year-(ARZ) and summer-rainfall zones (SRZ). Coalescent estimates of the time since these populations split (1.3 - 3.4 Mya) are highly consistent with the onset of winter-rainfall in the south-western Cape. Estimates of gene flow indicate much higher levels of gene flow into the WRZ, fitting the expected direction of gene flow based on wind patterns and differences in phenology. Haplotype diversity was observed to be highest in the WRZ, suggesting a number of genetic structuring factors in play within the WRZ. Additional analysis of populations from Chile and Lesotho suggest recent dispersal from Chile and possibly high levels of trans-continental gene flow between these populations. The study provides a first look at the genetic consequences of paleo-climate shifts on a moss species in South Africa. These results, in combination with other similar studies, may help to piece together the factors and processes responsible for the high diversity in the CFR today.
format Thesis
id oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/26003
institution University of Cape Town (South Africa)
language eng
last_indexed 2026-06-10T12:47:57.819Z
license_str Not specified — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
publishDate 2017
publishDateRange 2017
publishDateSort 2017
publisher Department of Biological Sciences
publisherStr Department of Biological Sciences
record_format dspace
source_str UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
spelling oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/26003 Seasonal rainfall regime modulates genetic variation in the moss Pseudocrossidium crinitum Wilding, Nicholas Hedderson, Terry A Botany Patterns of genetic variation, resulting from Pliocene-Pleistocene climate shifts have been largely documented for species from Europe. However, little is known from Africa and especially South Africa, where climate shifts have often been invoked to explain the amazingly high diversity of the Cape Floristic Region. An analysis of cpDNA and nDNA sequence variation for 65 populations of the moss Pseudocrossidium crinitum across South Africa revealed the presence of a phylogeographic break corresponding to the split between the winter-rainfall zone (WRZ) and the all-year-(ARZ) and summer-rainfall zones (SRZ). Coalescent estimates of the time since these populations split (1.3 - 3.4 Mya) are highly consistent with the onset of winter-rainfall in the south-western Cape. Estimates of gene flow indicate much higher levels of gene flow into the WRZ, fitting the expected direction of gene flow based on wind patterns and differences in phenology. Haplotype diversity was observed to be highest in the WRZ, suggesting a number of genetic structuring factors in play within the WRZ. Additional analysis of populations from Chile and Lesotho suggest recent dispersal from Chile and possibly high levels of trans-continental gene flow between these populations. The study provides a first look at the genetic consequences of paleo-climate shifts on a moss species in South Africa. These results, in combination with other similar studies, may help to piece together the factors and processes responsible for the high diversity in the CFR today. 2017-11-03T14:16:47Z 2017-11-03T14:16:47Z 2009 2017-02-14T13:05:58Z Bachelor Thesis Honours BSc (Hons) http://hdl.handle.net/11427/26003 eng application/pdf Department of Biological Sciences Faculty of Science University of Cape Town
spellingShingle Botany
Wilding, Nicholas
Seasonal rainfall regime modulates genetic variation in the moss Pseudocrossidium crinitum
thesis_degree_str Bachelor's / Honours
title Seasonal rainfall regime modulates genetic variation in the moss Pseudocrossidium crinitum
title_full Seasonal rainfall regime modulates genetic variation in the moss Pseudocrossidium crinitum
title_fullStr Seasonal rainfall regime modulates genetic variation in the moss Pseudocrossidium crinitum
title_full_unstemmed Seasonal rainfall regime modulates genetic variation in the moss Pseudocrossidium crinitum
title_short Seasonal rainfall regime modulates genetic variation in the moss Pseudocrossidium crinitum
title_sort seasonal rainfall regime modulates genetic variation in the moss pseudocrossidium crinitum
topic Botany
url http://hdl.handle.net/11427/26003
work_keys_str_mv AT wildingnicholas seasonalrainfallregimemodulatesgeneticvariationinthemosspseudocrossidiumcrinitum

Similar Items