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Population genetic structuring in a rare tropical plant: Idiospermum australiense (Diels) S.T. Blake

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Abstract

Idiospermum australiense (Diels) S.T. Blake is considered to be one of the few remaining species of an ancient assemblage to have survived the attrition of Australian tropical rain forest during historically drier periods. This monotypic species is currently restricted to two very wet lowland rain forest locations in Australia’s wet tropical World Heritage Area that are thought to have provided refuge for humid-adapted taxa during the last glacial maximum. Two dominant (RAPD and ISSR) molecular marker sets were employed to investigate whether the genetic structure of Idiospermum could be attributed to its restriction to these quite disjunct localities. The results reveal that neither its restriction to purported Pleistocene refugia nor the geographic distance between populations could fully explain the distribution of variation in the Idiospermum data set, with evidence to suggest that potentially deeper time events have played a role in population structuring and the distribution of diversity. Although there is sufficient evidence in the data to suggest that gene dispersal is quite limited in the species, further investigation is still needed to yield more informative detail on additional factors, such as breeding and germination strategies and their potential influence over population structuring and diversity levels within each population and refugium.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to acknowledge the traditional landowners of the areas in which Idiospermum australiense is located, the Ngadjonji, Matjandji and Yidindji, and the Kuku-yalangi people, respectively; Prue and Neil Hewitt for allowing us to collect material from their property; and Liana Joseph, Matthew Pye, Mary Gandini, Robert Jago, Brad Congdon, Michelle Waycott and Stuart Worboys for their assistance with this project. Thanks to Christopher Quinn, Stuart Worboys and Steve Goosem for their review of our manuscript. This project was made possible through joint funding received from the Australian Rainforest Collaborative Research Centre (Rainforest CRC, now disbanded) and James Cook University of North Queensland. Figure 1 incorporates data which is copyrighted to James Cook University (School of Tropical Environment Studies) and Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia) (2005).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Marine and Tropical Biology, James Cook University, Cairns, QLD, Australia

    Lynne M. Jones & Paul A. Gadek

  2. Australian Tropical Herbarium, James Cook University, Cairns, QLD, Australia

    Mark G. Harrington

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  1. Lynne M. Jones
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  2. Paul A. Gadek
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  3. Mark G. Harrington
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Correspondence to Mark G. Harrington.

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Jones, L.M., Gadek, P.A. & Harrington, M.G. Population genetic structuring in a rare tropical plant: Idiospermum australiense (Diels) S.T. Blake. Plant Syst Evol 286, 133–139 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00606-010-0293-2

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