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Genetic structure and habitat selection of the tall form Spartina alterniflora Loisel. in China

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Abstract

Spartina alterniflora Loisel., a highly invasive species on the Chinese coast, is a focus of increasing management concerns due to its high expansion rate in tideland and the significant damages on native ecosystems, since its introduction into China in 1979. There are both tall and dwarf forms of the species in China. The tall form with strongly invasive ability has widely expanded. Genetic variation was examined within and among three tall form S. alterniflora populations in Jiangsu Province using amplified fragment length polymorphisms (AFLP) markers. Three populations were sampled along the coastal line, and each population was divided into three subpopulations relating with the three microenvironments: Foreland, mid-marsh and upland. Genetic diversity was low at both the population level (PPB = 22%, HE = 0. 0657 and Hpop = 0.099) and at the species level (PPB = 24.65%, HT = 0.0814 and Hsp = 0.1225). A low level of genetic differentiation among populations was detected based on analyses of coefficients of genetic differentiation (9.51%), Shannon’s diversity index (9.48%) and AMOVA (10.69%). The mean value of Gst among nine subpopulations was 22.02%. Habitat selections may occur and affect the genetic structure of S. alterniflora in the process of its spread because there are 7.2, 3.4 and 5.9% specific bands out of 158 polymorphic bands in foreland, mid-marsh, and upland, respectively. This genetic differentiation may result from seedling survival and colonization success based on the selection of specialized microhabitats. The results indicated that high capability of genetic differentiation within populations and strong adaptability of tall form S. alterniflora may be the reasons for the widespread expansion of the tall form S. alterniflora.

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Acknowledgements

We are thankful to Dr. Richard Mack, a professor at the Washington State University, for helpful comments on an earlier draft of this manuscript, and Dr. Mullen, Steven Francis, a professor at the University of Missouri-Columbia, and Dr. Peter, Mills in Department of Environmental Science, University of Northern Britain Columbia, Canada for correcting many grammatical mistakes. We are highly appreciative of the anonymous reviewers for providing constructive suggestions on earlier versions. The Natural Scientific Foundation of China (No. 30400054), National Key Projects for Basic Research (No. G2000046803), and the Fund for Young Distinguished Professors established by the Chinese Ministry of Education (2002002) supported this research.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse; the Institute of Wetland Ecology, School of Life Science, Nanjing University, Nanjing, 210093, China

    Zifa Deng, Shuqing An, Changfang Zhou, Zhongsheng Wang, Yingbiao Zhi, Yunjing Wang, Lin Chen & Congjiao Zhao

  2. School of Life Science, Nantong University, Nantong, 226007, China

    Zifa Deng

  3. College of Life Science, Zhongshan University, Guangzhou, 200275, China

    Suhua Shi

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  1. Zifa Deng
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Correspondence to Shuqing An.

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Deng, Z., An, S., Zhou, C. et al. Genetic structure and habitat selection of the tall form Spartina alterniflora Loisel. in China. Hydrobiologia 583, 195–204 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-006-0529-x

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