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AOBPreview originally published online on January 20, 2005
Annals of Botany 2005 95(4):593-599; doi:10.1093/aob/mci061
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Annals of Botany 95/4 © Annals of Botany Company 2005; all rights reserved

Evolutionary Transition from Resprouter to Seeder Life History in Two Erica (Ericaceae) Species: Insights from Seedling Axillary Buds

DOLORS VERDAGUER1 and FERNANDO OJEDA2,*

1 Àrea de Fisiología Vegetal, Depto de Ciències Ambientals, Universitat de Girona, Campus de Montilivi, 17071-Girona, Spain and 2 Depto de Biología, CASEM, Universidad de Cádiz, Campus Río San Pedro, 11510-Puerto Real, Spain

* For correspondence. E-mail fernando.ojeda{at}uca.es

Received: 2 September 2004    Returned for revision: 13 October 2004    Accepted: 15 November 2004    Published electronically: 20 January 2005

• Background and Aims The genus Erica represents the epitome of plant biodiversity in the South African Cape region. It includes seeder and resprouter species, but both species diversity and narrow endemism are tightly associated with the seeder habit. It also includes ‘mixed’ species, in which both seeder and resprouter life histories are found. This intraspecific variation in life history is genetically based.

• Methods The cotyledonary region and basal stem of seeder and resprouter seedlings of two ‘mixed’ species, Erica calycina and E. coccinea, were examined to detect morphological and anatomical differences in axillary bud development between regeneration forms.

• Key Results While at least some bud activity was observed for resprouter seedlings, none was detected for seeder seedlings. A closer examination allowed the detection of some axillary buds in seeder seedlings of the two species, but they appeared in an unequivocally atrophied state.

• Conclusions The seeder and resprouter life histories are two character states and the seeder one (i.e. loss of resprouting) is derived within these two Erica species. Results allow the hypothesis that the loss of resprouting in a fire-prone scenario such as the Cape fynbos has promoted high diversification rates in seeder Erica lineages.

Key words: Axillary buds, Cape floristic region, cotyledonary region, fynbos, Erica, lignotuber, resprouter, rudimentary characters, seeder


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