Ecotype

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Four different ecotypes of Physcomitrella patens from the IMSC collection

As ecotypes subgroups ( clans ) of a type referred to, which provide their own genetically fixed ecological demands on their environment compared to other populations of the same species. The ecotypes are often limited to a sub-area of ​​a species and only occur under certain environmental conditions. The change in anatomical or physiological features can often be observed along ecoclines .

The term ecotype was coined in 1922 by the Swedish botanist Göte Turesson and is used especially for plants. The concept of the ecotype is largely identical to the concept of the ecological race, which is often used in zoology , which is in contrast to the geographical race . Due to the way in which it arises , the biotype is a special case of the ecotype, as this term refers to populations of a species that have arisen through autogamy or parthenogenesis .

An ecotype differs genetically and physiologically from other parts of the population through the effects of selection due to the special ecological conditions. However, these properties are not used to describe the organism as a species of its own and thus to grant it its own formal taxonomic status.

Animals

There are two different ecotypes or ecological races of the Sotalia dolphin ( Sotalia fluviatilis ). The first ecotype, Sotalia fluviatilis guianensis , lives on the Atlantic coast between Nicaragua and Brazil. The second, Sotalia fluviatilis fluviatilis , inhabits the Amazon and its tributaries. Similarly, the bottlenose dolphin ( Tursiops truncatus ) has two, and some scientists even three, ecotypes.

plants

In the plant kingdom the formation of ecotypes is more widespread than in the animal kingdom because of the low mobility of plants (due to the formation of diaspores , plants are also “mobile”). So are z. B. of the thale cress ( Arabidopsis thaliana ) more than 750 different ecotypes known worldwide.

By using nature, humans also contribute to promoting ecotypes in plants. So when can timothy depending on the type of land use a pasture shape and Wiesbaden form are visible.

In the burdock bedstraw ( Galium aparine ), which occurs in different habitats, two different ecotypes, a "field ecotype" and a "non-field ecotype", could be detected. The two ecotypes differ both in terms of their development strategy and in terms of a large number of morphological and phenological features.

God Turesson himself left us a very impressive example of ecotypes of a species. On the grounds of the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences in Ultuna, he had a row of trees planted with downy birch from different geographical latitudes in Sweden. The trees represent a “genetic gradient” from Skåne in southern Sweden to Lapland and their phenological appearance still proves Turesson's research results in a spectacular way: The birch buds begin to break up on the southern trees and continue to the north while the leaves change color begins in autumn on the trees in the north and the leaves of the birch trees in the south are the last to discolor and fall off.

Ecotypes in forestry

Knowledge of different ecotypes can be used in forestry for planting appropriate to the location. So is z. For example, it is known that European beeches differ in their ability to cope with drought stress. From this one can derive recommendations for the planting of forest locations that suffer from summer water shortages.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Urania plant kingdom . Vegetation. Urania, Leipzig et al. 1995, ISBN 3-332-00550-2 , p. 30.
  2. ^ Sieghard Winkler: Introduction to Plant Ecology (= Uni-Taschenbücher . 169). Gustav Fischer, Stuttgart et al. 1973, ISBN 3-437-20101-8 , p. 191 f.
  3. ↑ Ulrich Groll, Ernst-Gerhard Mahn: On the development of selected populations of the burdock bedstraw (Galium aparine L.). In: Flora. Vol. 178, No. 2, 1986, ISSN  0367-2530 , pp. 93-110, doi : 10.1016 / S0367-2530 (17) 31478-0 .
  4. ↑ Claus Buschmann, Stephanie Bilke, Tobias Längle, Hartmut K. Lichtenthaler: Influence of dry stress on the photosynthetic activity of different ecotypes of the beech (Fagus sylvatica L.). Final report. University of Karlsruhe - Botanical Institute II, Karlsruhe 1999, ( digital copy (PDF; 1.55 MB) ).