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Biochemical Comparison of two Ecologically Distinctive Forms of Xanthoria Elegans in the Canadian High Arctic

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 March 2007

Dianne Fahselt
Affiliation:
Department of Plant Sciences, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, CanadaN6A 5B7.
Marianna Krol
Affiliation:
Department of Plant Sciences, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, CanadaN6A 5B7.

Abstract

Xanthoria elegans has a broad ecological amplitude, world-wide distribution and includes morphological variants which differ markedly with respect to colour, form and frequency of apothecia. Distinctive thallus forms are associated with different habitats. Samples from two contrasting habitats were studied on Ellesmere Island in the Canadian High Arctic. Carotenoids, polyphenolic products and isoenzymes were examined to establish whether two thallus types were biochemically distinct. Pigments were comparable in both morphological variants, as were approximately half of the most frequently occurring enzyme forms. Enzymatic similarity between the two resembled that between conspecific populations of other lichens. On the basis of the chemical attributes investigated, the thallus forms did not warrant recognition as fundamentally distinct entities, but were merely variants of an ecologically versatile and extremely plastic species.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © British Lichen Society 1989

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