Concordance between life history traits, invasion history, and allozyme diversity of the Everglades invader Melaleuca quinquenervia

During the century following its initial introduction in 1886, the Australian tree Melaleuca quinquenervia (Myrtaceae) dispersed from a few introduction points to occupy over 200,000 ha, primarily in historic Everglades wetlands of southern Florida. Cellulose acetate gel electrophoresis (CAGE) was u...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Aquatic botany 2009-05, Vol.90 (4), p.296-302
Main Authors: Dray, F. Allen, Hale, Rebecca E., Madeira, Paul T., Bennett, Bradley C., Center, Ted D.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Allozyme
Animal and plant ecology
Animal, plant and microbial ecology
Autoecology
Biological and medical sciences
Biological control
Cellulose acetate gel electrophoresis
Demecology
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
General aspects
Genetic diversity
Invasive species
Life history trait
Melaleuca quinquenervia
Myrtaceae
Plants and fungi
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Summary:During the century following its initial introduction in 1886, the Australian tree Melaleuca quinquenervia (Myrtaceae) dispersed from a few introduction points to occupy over 200,000 ha, primarily in historic Everglades wetlands of southern Florida. Cellulose acetate gel electrophoresis (CAGE) was used to investigate the allozyme diversity and population genetic structure of 208 individuals in a dozen populations resulting from this invasion. The analyses showed that these populations have a high (82%) rate of polymorphic loci and an average of 2 alleles/locus. There was substantial heterozygosity (mean H e = 0.356), which concords well with recent studies reporting a greater number of introduction events and sources than generally recognized. The introduction history and distributional patterns within Florida have led to geographic structuring ( G ST = 0.419) in which the Gulf Coast metapopulation has a greater effective number of alleles and greater heterozygosity than the Atlantic Coast metapopulation. The gene diversity in M. quinquenervia was comparable to other tropical woody species. Its strong population divergence was reminiscent of pioneer species and consistent with its status as a plant invader in Florida.
ISSN:0304-3770
1879-1522
DOI:10.1016/j.aquabot.2008.11.006