Variación genética de Stelis superbiens (Lindl.), a lo largo de un gradiente altitudinal al sur de Ecuador

Abstract

This study evaluates the variation in the genetic structure of Stelis superbiens, an orchid native from Ecuador, in different populations and altitudinal ranges as response to the changing environmental conditions in a montane cloud forest in southern Ecuador. Four populations were located in the Cordillera Real Oriental of the Southern Andes and through of analysis of polymorphisms of length of amplified fragments (AFLP), 173 polymorphic alleles were determined to evaluate the genetic structure of the species through Structure, PCoA obtaining as result three genetic populations coexisting in the populations analyzed possibly by events of hybridization with other species. The spatial autocorrelation results in Genalex, indicate a weak spatial genetic structure among all populations, coinciding with the low percentage of inter-population variation and high percentage of intra-population variation. These results explain changes in the genetic structure of all independent populations of the altitudinal gradient in which they are located.