Variation in quantitative and molecular genetic traits among populations of Nigella degenii and N. doerfleri (Ranunculaceae): Implications for drift and selection in the Aegean archipelago

• Applicant: Professor Joachim W. Kadereit, Ph.D., since 5/2005
• Subject Area: Evolution and Systematics of Plants and Fungi
• Term: from 2002 to 2007
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 5362558

The Aegean archipelago forms a highly fragmented complex of mostly continental shelf islands that have become disconnected from each other and the mainland in relatively recent geological times. These islands provide one of the most suitable natural laboratories for studying the effects of past range fragmentation and geographic isolation on allopatric speciation brought about by genetic drift. Indeed, several members of the Aegean flora have been postulated to have originated via non-adaptive radiation. The major aim of the proposed study is to develop a molecular phylogeny of the Nigella arvensis complex from the Aegean region based on rDNA-ITS sequences, complemented by a detailed phylogeographic and population genetic survey of cpDNA and microsatellite variation at both the inter- and intraspecific level. The data obtained, together with the relatively well known geological history of the eastern Mediterranean Sea, will be used to determine the times and orders of evolutionary divergence within the complex, the population genetic processes underlying its (supposedly non-adaptive) radiation, and the molecular parameters by which we can measure them. This project will allow testing many previous hypotheses on the evolutionary history of the Aegean flora, and will serve as an important framework for future experimental studies.

• DFG Programme: Priority Programmes
• Subproject of: SPP 1127: Radiations - Origins of Biological Diversity
• Ehemaliger Antragsteller: Professor Dr. Hans Peter Comes, until 5/2005