Abstract Detail

Pteridological Section/AFS

Koenemann, Daniel [1], Maisonpierre, Jacqueline [1], Barrington, David S. [1].

Broad-scale integrity and local divergence in the fiddlehead fern Matteuccia struthiopteris (L) Todaro (Onocleaceae).

Matteuccia struthiopteris, commonly known as the fiddlehead fern, has a present-day distribution across much of the north-temperate and boreal regions of the world. Much of the current North American distribution of the fiddlehead fern was covered in ice or uninhabitable tundra during the Pleistocene. We characterized variation in cpDNA, nDNA, and AFLP markers from a broad geographic sample of the fiddlehead fern to assess genetic divergence in the species, re-evaluate its phylogenetic relationships, and explore its North American Quaternary history. DNA sequence data for M. struthiopteris segregates the species globally into two distinct groups, a Eurasian and an American. Within these two groups there is little to no sequence variation, even at large geographic scales. The AFLP data reveal genetic variation only at very small geographic scales. Higher genetic diversity was observed in the more western watershed sampled within Vermont. However, analysis of AFLP data at a larger scale, across northeastern North America, introduced variation that overwhelmed the local signal and compromised spatial patterning. The Vermont pattern is consistent with a northeastward Holocene migration from a Mississippi-valley refugium, but resolution of this history requires a novel witness to genetic diversity.

Broader Impacts:

1 - University of Vermont, Plant Biology Department, Jeffords Hall , 63 Carrigan Dr. , Burlington, VT, 05405, United States

Keywords:
Matteuccia
phylogeography
AFLP.

Presentation Type: Oral Paper:Papers for Sections
Session: 2
Location: 556B/Convention Center
Date: Monday, August 2nd, 2010
Time: 11:15 AM
Number: 2013
Abstract ID:497