TAYLOR, ROBIN MARIE. Department of Biology, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ 86011. - The phylogeny and adaptive radiation of Salvia pachyphylla (Lamiaceae).
Salvia pachyphylla, as currently recognized, has a disjunct
distribution with one large division that occurs along the mountain
ranges of southern California, Nevada, and the northern part of Baja
California Norte, Mexico. The second, smaller division occurs in the
eastern part of Arizona near Winslow. This curious distribution
raises many questions as to the original distribution and adaptive
radiation of this pant and the evolutionary processes that have taken
place. To answer these questions, Salvia pachyphylla and a
close relative of the Salvia dorrii complex have been examined
to determine the relationship between Salvia pachyphylla and
the other members of the complex using molecular techniques. The
independent data set derived from nuclear ribosomal DNA (nrDNA) DNA
sequences (ITS-1 and ITS-2) was then correlated with morphological
characters. The results were used to determine where the most
sequence diversity was and the adaptive radation point of the original
population.
Key words: Adaptive radiation, ITS 1, ITS 2, Lamiaceae, phylogeny, Salvia pachyphylla