Chloroplast DNA variation in the shrub Justicia areysiana (Acanthaceae) endemic to the monsoon affected coastal mountains of the southern Arabian Peninsula |
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| Authors: | JÖ RG MEISTER,MOHAMED A. HUBAISHAN,NORBERT KILIAN, CHRISTOPH OBERPRIELER |
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| Affiliation: | Institute of Botany, University of Regensburg, Universitätsstr. 31, D-93053 Regensburg, Germany; Agricultural Research Station Fuwwa, Agricultural Research and Extension Authority (AREA) –Eastern Coastal Branch, Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation, P.O. Box 8073, Mukalla, Yemen; Botanic Garden &Botanical Museum Berlin-Dahlem, Königin-Luise-Str. 6–8, D-14191 Berlin, Germany |
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| Abstract: | The monsoon affected mountains of the southern Arabian Peninsula harbour in climatically favoured refugia vegetation elements of palaeo-African origin. To understand better the temporal and spatial differentiation of these refugia, chloroplast variation in Justicia areysiana Deflers (Acanthaceae), a shrub species endemic to the Yemeni and Omani mountains close to the Arabian Sea, was studied using PCR-RFLP and chloroplast microsatellite diversity. Eleven haplotypes were characterized and show a distinct geographical distribution pattern with a deep split between populations from south Yemeni fog oases and those from Hawf Mountains/Dhofar region in east Yemen and south Oman. Very limited haplotype diversity within populations (hS = 0.15) and a high level of population differentiation (GST = 0.81) demonstrate the strong genetic isolation of populations from each other. Past oscillations between humid and arid periods connected with glacial and interglacial episodes in the Pleistocene and Holocene are considered responsible for the observed patterns of genetic variation. © 2005 The Linnean Society of London, Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society , 2005, 148 , 437–444. |
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| Keywords: | climate oscillations fragmentation microsatellites palaeoclimate PCR-RFLP phylogeography |
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