Clonal diversity of Phragmites australis propagating along water depth gradient

• Published in: Aquatic botany Vol. 94; no. 4; pp. 172 - 176
• Main Authors: Engloner, Attila I., Major, Ágnes
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Amsterdam Elsevier B.V 01-05-2011; Elsevier
• Subjects: Animal and plant ecology; Animal, plant and microbial ecology; Autoecology; Biological and medical sciences; clones; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Genetic diversity; genetic variation; health status; lakes; microsatellite repeats; Microsatellites; phenotype; Phragmites australis; Plants and fungi; random amplified polymorphic DNA technique; RAPD; Reed die-back; Reed expansion; reproduction; surface water level; Hungary; Hungary, Balaton L; Genetic diversity; Microsatellites; RAPD; Reed expansion; Reed die-back; Monocotyledones; Phragmites australis; Random amplified polymorphic DNA marker; Depth; Water level; Gramineae; Angiospermae; Spermatophyta; Aquatic plant; Expansion
• ISSN: 0304-3770; 1879-1522
• DOI: 10.1016/j.aquabot.2011.02.007

► Clonal composition of a large, expanding reed stand was studied with two genetic profiling methods. ► Clone competition along a water depth gradient brought about decreasing genetic diversity irrespectively of the health status of reed stand. ► Decreasing genetic diversity is not necessarily an obstacle against reed expansion, however, indicates the high vulnerability of a stand occurring in the deep water.
Clonal composition of a large, expanding reed stand was studied with two genetic profiling methods. Sampling was carried out along two parallel, and two perpendicular transects at the shore of Lake Balaton, Hungary, in a 900
m long reed stand, with distances between sampling points ranging from 15 to 30
m. The four primer pairs involved in microsatellite comparisons provided a total of 45 polymorphic allelic variants that determined 61 multilocus phenotypes. Along the transects, clone number decreased towards the deep water. RAPD analysis involved eleven random decamer primers and 115 repeatably amplifying and polymorphic RAPD fragments. Applying our new data evaluation method, highly similar information was gained from RAPD investigation and the microsatellite method on the number and extension of the clones. The results demonstrated that clone competition along a water depth gradient where generative reproduction is allowed only at the lakeshore edge brings about decreasing genetic diversity irrespectively of the health status of reed stand.