Keywords
phenotypic differentiation
environmental variables
morphological variation
How to Cite
Abstract
Quercus germana is an endemic species from the cloud forest of Mexico. The selection pressure resulting from fragmentation and environmental changes suggests the presence of phenotypic differentiation. We evaluated the relationship between the environment and the leaf morphology of Q. germana at six sites in the area of Xalapa, Veracruz. Ten leafs of 30 specimens per site were collected. Ten leafs morphometric and seven environmental characteristics were measured and variance analyses were performed with a discriminant analysis. Additionally, UPGMA phylogenetic trees were constructed and the Mahalanobis distances were compared using a Mantel test to estimate the relationship between morphometry and the environment. The morphological variables that best separated the sites were mucrones, ribs and petiole size. Environmentally, the most discriminant variables were light, temperature and loss of humidity. The Mantel test did not show any relationship between the morphometric and the environmental differences (r = 0.090, P = 0.3060), so there is not any association between the two. Because morphological differences were found in sub-populations despite of the short distance between them, these may be affected by fragmentation even without environmental influences.
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