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Data from: Genetic analysis of the peatmoss Sphagnum cribrosum (Sphagnaceae) indicates independent origins of an extreme infra-specific morphology shift

Cite this dataset

Johnson, Matthew G.; Shaw, A. Jonathan; Shaw, Blanka; Zhou, Ping (2012). Data from: Genetic analysis of the peatmoss Sphagnum cribrosum (Sphagnaceae) indicates independent origins of an extreme infra-specific morphology shift [Dataset]. Dryad. https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.860jq72n

Abstract

Within Sphagnum cribrosum, a dioicous aquatic peatmoss, a unique morphological variant (the “waveform”), found at only two lakes in North Carolina, has a branching architecture that is extremely differentiated from anything otherwise known in Sphagnum, though the plants are microscopically indistinguishable from S. cribrosum. At one site where the two morphologies co-occur, sixty years of field observations demonstrate the persistence of each morphology, even where the two forms grow intermixed. We conducted a reciprocal transplant experiment in which waveform and normal plants maintained their divergent morphologies for eight months. We sampled populations throughout the range and conducted genetic and phylogenetic analyses with microsatellite markers and DNA sequences to investigate the genetic context of the waveform morphology within S. cribrosum. Haplotype networks from DNA sequences showed the two waveform populations are separated by 11 substitutions across three loci. Microsatellite analyses using non-parametric clustering and admixture models also indicated genetic dissimilarity between genotypes with waveform morphology at the two lakes. Both molecular datasets suggest that the waveform morphology had at least two independent origins despite proximity of the two lakes where it uniquely occurs. Given the clonal nature of the waveform, it is unlikely to form a cohesive evolutionary lineage deserving of taxonomic status. The analysis also revealed a genetically diverse population in Georgia as the potential source of variation found in all other populations of S. cribrosum.

Usage notes

Location

North Carolina
Georgia
Florida
South Carolina