ISSN:
1573-5052
Keywords:
classification
;
evolution
;
Fisher's exact test of probability
;
human influence
;
ordination
;
phytosociological analysis
;
polyploid complex
;
post-glacial history
;
TABORD
Source:
Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
Topics:
Biology
Notes:
Abstract Lists were made of the vascular plant species associated with Hierochloë australis (5 localities), H. odorata ssp. odorata (79 localities), H. odorata ssp. baltica (20 localities), H. hirta ssp. hirta (17 localities), H. hirta ssp. arctica (53 localities) and H. alpina ssp. alpina (5 localities). The localities were classified by the TABORD computer program to produce phytosociological tables. An ordination of localities and of selected species was also made using the ORDINA program. Significant groups of species were distinguished by using Fisher's exact test of probability. All the H. australis localities were in mixed forests. In general, the natural habitats of H. odorata spp. odorata are fens and grasslands in the mountains and on the seashores of Scandinavia, those of H. odorata ssp. baltica are on brackish-water shores of the Baltic, those of H. hirta ssp. hirta on sandy or gravelly river banks and lake-shores, and those of H. hirta ssp. arctica are on fens and grasslands in the northern boreal forests. These latter four taxa occur, in addition, in various anthropogenic, or semi-natural, disturbed and/or unstable habitats. Their scattered occurrence in S Scandinavia and C Europe is probably more related to sporadic long-distance dispersal, than to their being glacial relicts. The natural habitats of H. alpina ssp. alpina are exposed mountain heaths. It is suggested that H. odorata ssp. odorata, and possibly H. alpina ssp. alpina, survived the last glaciation in refugia off the Norwegian coast, and that H. odorata ssp. baltica and H. hirta ssp. hirta may have arisen by polyploidy within Scandinavia during the Post-glacial period. H. hirta ssp. arctica probably immigrated into Scandinavia from the east during the Post-glacial and H. australis from the south. The results are considered in relation to the views previously expressed in the literature and the analytic techniques used are discussed. This work has been supported by grants from the University of Lund, for which I am duly grateful.
Type of Medium:
Electronic Resource
URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BF00133006
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