Mountains and refuges: Genetic structure and evolutionary history in closely related, endemic Centaurea in continental Greece

Speciation and genetic diversity in Centaurea subsect. Phalolepis in Anatolia

“…Genetic diversity values in Turkish species of subsect. Phalolepis are among the highest within the genus (mean A  = 5.160; range 3.100–7.286; mean H e  = 0.504; range 0.073–0.779; Supplementary Table S3), and are comparable to the values obtained for a series of narrow endemics of the same subsection from the mountains of Greece using the same set of microsatellites ( A  = 5.363; H e  = 0.587)15. Comparison with the “reference” values for plants ( H e  = 0.420 for endemic species, H e  = 0.620 for widespread ones) provided in the meta-analysis of Nybom27 is another proof that our study species conserve considerable microsatellite genetic variability in spite of their rarity.…”

“…In sharp contrast with Greece where most of species were at some point subordinated to other widespread taxa15, species of Phalolepis described from Turkey are fairly undisputed. They are usually mountain chasmophites on limestone, with the exception of C. wagenitzii , which grows on serpentines at sea level.…”

“…We chose the group of Phalolepis species as a subject for phylogeographic studies for three reasons: firstly, the group is morphologically cohesive and its limits have been recently reviewed and redefined9; secondly, there are no doubts on the taxonomy of the species, thanks to a recent morphological review14; and thirdly, subsection Phalolepis has been subject of a recent study on speciation in Greece15, and a similar study in Turkey would allow a comparison of results of high interest. The study in Greece concluded that it was a case of allopatric speciation by area fragmentation mediated by the special topography of the mountains of Greece, which favored isolation, and pointed out the character of refugium of the region during the Pleistocene glaciations15.…”

“…The study in Greece concluded that it was a case of allopatric speciation by area fragmentation mediated by the special topography of the mountains of Greece, which favored isolation, and pointed out the character of refugium of the region during the Pleistocene glaciations15.…”

“…Microsatellites have the advantages of codominant inheritance, reproducibility and high levels of variability, and are extensively used for analysing genetic structure. Previous studies using microsatellites have resolved the population structure of other species of Centaurea 1617181920 and have unraveled the speciation process in Phalolepis in the refuge of continental Greece15. Besides population analyses using microsatellites, ecological niche modelling (ENM) has also been employed to get insights into the paleodistribution of species.…”