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AOBPreview published online on April 27, 2007
Annals of Botany, doi:10.1093/aob/mcm067
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© The Author 2007. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Annals of Botany Company. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

No Genetic Diversity at Molecular Markers and Strong Phenotypic Plasticity in Populations of Ranunculus nodiflorus, an Endangered Plant Species in France

Florence Noel1,*, Nathalie Machon2,3 and Emmanuelle Porcher2,3

1 Université Montpellier II, UMR 5554, Institut des Sciences de l'Evolution, CC065, Place Eugène Bataillon, F-34095 Montpellier cedex 05, France
2 Laboratoire de Conservation des Espèces, Restauration et Suivi des Populations, UMR 5173 CNRS-MNHN, Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, 61 rue Buffon, F-75005 Paris, France
3 USM 2699 Inventaire et suivi de la biodiversité, Conservatoire Botanique National du Bassin Parisien, Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, 61 rue Buffon, F-75005 Paris, France

* For correspondence. E-mail flo.noel{at}isem.univ-montp2.fr

Received: 13 October 2006    Returned for revision: 21 December 2006    Accepted: 21 February 2007   

Background and Aims: Although conservation biology has long focused on population dynamics and genetics, phenotypic plasticity is likely to play a significant role in population viability. Here, an investigation is made into the relative contribution of genetic diversity and phenotypic plasticity to the phenotypic variation in natural populations of Ranunculus nodiflorus, a rare annual plant inhabiting temporary puddles in the Fontainebleau forest (Paris region, France) and exhibiting metapopulation dynamics.

Methods: The genetic diversity and phenotypic plasticity of quantitative traits (morphological and fitness components) were measured in five populations, using a combination of field measurements, common garden experiments and genotyping at microsatellite loci.

Key Results: It is shown that populations exhibit almost undetectable genetic diversity at molecular markers, and that the variation in quantitative traits observed among populations is due to a high level of phenotypic plasticity. Despite the lack of genetic diversity, the natural population of R. nodiflorus exhibits large population sizes and does not appear threatened by extinction; this may be attributable to large phenotypic plasticity, enabling the production of numerous seeds under a wide range of environmental conditions.

Conclusions: Efficient conservation of the populations can only be based on habitat management, to favour the maintenance of microenvironmental variation and the resulting strong phenotypic plasticity. In contrast, classical actions aiming to improve genetic diversity are useless in the present case.

Key words: Metapopulation, Ranunculus nodiflorus, phenotypic plasticity, quantitative trait, genetic diversity, conservation


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