Phylogenomics and phylogeographic model testing using convolutional neural networks reveal a history of recent admixture in the Canarian Kleinia neriifolia.

Multiple-island endemics (MIE) are considered ideal natural subjects to study patterns of island colonization that involve recent population-level genetic processes. Kleinia neriifolia is a Canarian MIE widespread across the archipelago, which exhibits a close phylogenetic relationship with species in northwest Africa and at the other side of the Sahara Desert. Here, we used target sequencing with plastid skimming (Hyb-Seq), a dense population-level sampling of K.

In defence of the entity of Macaronesia as a biogeographical region.

Since its coinage ca. 1850 AD by Philip Barker Webb, the biogeographical region of Macaronesia, consisting of the North Atlantic volcanic archipelagos of the Azores, Madeira with the tiny Selvagens, the Canaries and Cabo Verde, and for some authors different continental coastal strips, has been under dispute. Herein, after a brief introduction on the terminology and purpose of regionalism, we recover the origins of the Macaronesia name, concept and geographical adscription, as well as its biogeographical implications and how different authors have positioned themselves, using distinct terrestrial or marine floristic and/or faunistic taxa distributions and relationships for accepting or rejecting the existence of this biogeographical region.

Multiple introductions, polyploidy and mixed reproductive strategies are linked to genetic diversity and structure in the most widespread invasive plant across Southern Ocean archipelagos.

Biological invasions in remote areas that experience low human activity provide unique opportunities to elucidate processes responsible for invasion success. Here we study the most widespread invasive plant species across the isolated islands of the Southern Ocean, the annual bluegrass, Poa annua. To analyse geographical variation in genome size, genetic diversity and reproductive strategies, we sampled all major sub-Antarctic archipelagos in this region and generated microsatellite data for 470 individual plants representing 31 populations.

Characterization of microsatellite markers for the endangered (Thymelaeaceae) and related species.

Premise: The endangered shrub (Thymelaeaceae) is endemic to the Balearic island of Menorca, where fragmentation and severe population decline are ongoing threats to this taxon. We developed a set of microsatellite markers to analyze the fine-scale genetics of its few extant populations.

Methods And Results: Fifteen microsatellite markers were obtained through Illumina high-throughput sequencing and tested in two populations.

Testing the hypothesis of loss of defenses on islands across a wide latitudinal gradient of Periploca laevigata populations.

Premise Of The Study: We tested a hypothesis that predicts loss of chemical defenses on island plant populations (LCDIH) as an evolutionary response to limited herbivore pressures.

Methods: Using a common garden approach, we grew 16 populations (N = 286 seedlings) of Periploca laevigata, a Mediterranean shrub for which previous studies suggested that animal browsing elicits defensive responses mediated by tannins. Our experimental setting represented a wide latitudinal gradient (37-15°N) encompassing three island systems, virtually free of large herbivores, and three mainland areas.

How repeatable is microevolution on islands? Patterns of dispersal and colonization-related plant traits in a phylogeographical context.

Background And Aims: Archipelagos provide a valuable framework for investigating phenotypic evolution under different levels of geographical isolation. Here, we analysed two co-distributed, widespread plant lineages to examine if incipient island differentiation follows parallel patterns of variation in traits related to dispersal and colonization.

Methods: Twenty-one populations of two anemochorous Canarian endemics, Kleinia neriifolia and Periploca laevigata, were sampled to represent mainland congeners and two contrasting exposures across all the main islands.

The relevance of gene flow in metapopulation dynamics of an oceanic island endemic, Olea europaea subsp. guanchica.

Theoretical and empirical studies suggest that geographical isolation and extinction-recolonization dynamics are two factors causing strong genetic structure in metapopulations, but their consequences in species with high dispersal abilities have not been tested at large scales. Here, we investigated the effect of population age structure and isolation by distance in the patterns of genetic diversity in a wind-pollinated, zoochorous tree (Olea europaea subsp. guanchica) sporadically affected by volcanic events across the Canarian archipelago.

Phenotypic plasticity and integration across the canopy of Olea europaea subsp. guanchica (Oleaceae) in populations with different wind exposures.

Woody plants, as sessile and long-lived organisms, are expected to have effective mechanisms for dealing with recurrent environmental stresses. In the present study, we hypothesized that phenotypic plasticity (the ability to express alternative phenotypes) and integration (covariation among functionally related traits) are elicited in plants under stressful wind speed conditions. We investigated the within-crown variation of nine vegetative traits of a tree species (Olea europaea subsp.

Field patterns of leaf plasticity in adults of the long-lived evergreen Quercus coccifera.

Background And Aims: Quercus coccifera, as a long-lived sprouter, responds plastically to environmental variation. In this study, the role of foliar plasticity as a mechanism of habitat selection and modification within the canopy and across contrasted habitats was characterized. An examination was made of the differential contribution of inner and outer canopy layers to the crown plasticity expressed in the field by adult individuals and its dependence on environmental and genetic factors.