Within-species variation among populations of the Carex flava complex as a function of habitat conditions

Abstract

Background: Variable habitat conditions contribute to morphological variability that plays a substantial part in evolution of plants. Understanding the extent of phenotypic plasticity has important implication for assigning individuals to taxa.

Aims: I analysed morphological variability among populations within species of the Carex flava group and tested to what extent morphological variability was associated with habitat conditions.

Methods: A total of 571 specimens from 20 populations of four species from the C. flava complex were sampled in Poland and tested by Discriminant Function Analysis (DFA). The relationship between morphological characters and habitat factors was explored by means of the redundancy analysis (RDA).

Results: Variability of the generative and vegetative traits was fairly similar in Carex lepidocarpa, C. flava and Carex demissa, while it was somewhat higher in Carex viridula. The morphological traits were mostly related to soil organic matter content, calcium and carbonate, as well as to habitat fertility (C:N ratio), elevation and habitat disturbance. The results obtained do not support the separation of C. viridula var. pulchella from C. viridula var. viridula.

Conclusions: Phenotypic variability in the species of the C. flava complex is related to habitat conditions and this can lead to the differentiation of morphotypes within species.

Keywords:

• Carex flava
• habitat specificity
• morphological variability
• morphometry
• phenotypic plasticity

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Bartosz Kurnicki for his help with field studies and to Marek Podlasiński for analysis of soil samples. I am very grateful to the reviewers and editors for valuable comments on the manuscript.

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Notes on contributors

Helena Więcław

Helena Więcław is a researcher, her main interests include the taxonomy, ecology and distribution of the genus Carex.