The influence of historical geneflow, bathymetry and distribution patterns on the population genetics of morphologically diverse Galápagos' Opuntia echios.

Throughout history, remote archipelagos have repeatedly been designated natural laboratories to study evolutionary processes. The extensive, geographically structured, morphological variation within Galápagos' Opuntia cacti has been presumed to be another example of how such processes shape diversity. However, recent genetic studies on speciation and potential effects of plasticity within this system failed to confirm earlier classification and hypothesized radiation on both global and single island levels. Detailed population genetic information, however, is crucial in conserving these semi-arid ecosystem keystone species. In this article, we re-evaluate the genetics of Opuntia echios inhabiting one of the most taxon rich places on the archipelago: Santa Cruz and its surrounding satellite islands, using microsatellite data. Our analysis revealed high genetic variability within all sampled locations, providing little support for the hypothesis of clonal reproduction. Inter-island gene flow patterns appear to be largely influenced by bathymetry and sea levels during last ice ages. Although O. echios from Seymour Norte are morphologically recognized as being a separate taxon, Daphné Major's cacti are the most differentiated. In addition, we found a potential barrier for gene flow along the ring-like distribution of Opuntias at the western side of Santa Cruz, suggesting potential links with geology.

The normal distribution as appropriate model of developmental instability in Opuntia cacti flowers.

Developmental instability (DI) as measured by fluctuating asymmetry (FA) has been proposed to reflect fitness and stress. Furthermore, the associated developmental buffering may reduce morphological variation, conceal the expression of genetic variation and as such play an important role in evolutionary biology. However, observed associations between FA and various forms of stress and quality appear very heterogeneous. Presently it is difficult to interpret the biological relevance of this heterogeneity because little is known about the link between FA and the underlying process of DI, casting doubt whether DI can be viewed as an individual property and how closely FA reflects the underlying process of DI. Therefore, studies that explicitly test the validity of assumptions of the proposed theoretical models and estimate between-individual variations in DI are needed. We present data on Opuntia cacti floral traits confirming that the normal distribution can be viewed as an appropriate approximation of the distribution of DI and that the concept of hypothetical repeatability can provide useful insights into the interpretation of patterns in FA as a measure of DI. Furthermore, we detected significant between-individual variation in DI. Measuring petals from several flowers within individual plants allowed making inference of individual DI.

Permanent Genetic Resources added to Molecular Ecology Resources Database 1 August 2009-30 September 2009.

This article documents the addition of 238 microsatellite marker loci and 72 pairs of Single Nucleotide Polymorphism (SNP) sequencing primers to the Molecular Ecology Resources Database. Loci were developed for the following species: Adelges tsugae, Artemisia tridentata, Astroides calycularis, Azorella selago, Botryllus schlosseri, Botrylloides violaceus, Cardiocrinum cordatum var. glehnii, Campylopterus curvipennis, Colocasia esculenta, Cynomys ludovicianus, Cynomys leucurus, Cynomys gunnisoni, Epinephelus coioides, Eunicella singularis, Gammarus pulex, Homoeosoma nebulella, Hyla squirella, Lateolabrax japonicus, Mastomys erythroleucus, Pararge aegeria, Pardosa sierra, Phoenicopterus ruber ruber and Silene latifolia. These loci were cross-tested on the following species: Adelges abietis, Adelges cooleyi, Adelges piceae, Pineus pini, Pineus strobi, Tubastrea micrantha, three other Tubastrea species, Botrylloides fuscus, Botrylloides simodensis, Campylopterus hemileucurus, Campylopterus rufus, Campylopterus largipennis, Campylopterus villaviscensio, Phaethornis longuemareus, Florisuga mellivora, Lampornis amethystinus, Amazilia cyanocephala, Archilochus colubris, Epinephelus lanceolatus, Epinephelus fuscoguttatus, Symbiodinium temperate-A clade, Gammarus fossarum, Gammarus roeselii, Dikerogammarus villosus and Limnomysis benedeni. This article also documents the addition of 72 sequencing primer pairs and 52 allele specific primers for Neophocaena phocaenoides.