ECOLOGICAL GENETICS OF THE COLONIZING ABILITY OF ROSE CLOVER (TRIFOLIUM HIRTUM ALL.)

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Abstract
Thirteen populations sampled from among the oldest plantings of rose clover (Trifolium hirtum All.), introduced into the California range during the late 1940's, and 12 roadside populations established through natural colonization were compared for their genetic and demographic features. Roadside colonies showed a greater amount of reproductive effort in terms of a larger number of heads per plant and larger calyx, lower rate of seed carryover, higher and more stable plant density, lower seedling survivorship, and earlier flowering. The calyx was more hirsute in roadside collections and remained attached with the seed, a feature accounting for higher germination probabilities on the soil surface or in litter along the roadsides, in contrast to the range where grazing animals would often work the seed into the soil. Outcrossing rates are slightly higher in roadside colonies in which genetic polymorphisms at three marker loci represented as high levels of genetic variability as in the range populations. The colonizing success of rose clover seems to be largely determined by a few and rapid morphological changes and by the retention of some outbreeding and genetic variation. Such joint analyses of genetic and demographic features of colonizing species are needed to support various deductions about the characteristics of “ideal” weeds and colonizers.

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