Absence of genetic variation in populations of the liverwort Plagiochila porelloides from northern Greece and southern Scandinavia

In English Populations of the leafy liverwort Plagiochila porelloides from lowland southern Scandinavia and mountain peaks on mainland Greece were screened for polymorphisms at 16 putative isozyme loci. The study areas were chosen to represent regions severely and mildly affected by the Pleistocene glaciations, respectively. As in an earlier study from Poland, total absence of variability was recorded. It is concluded that a population ancestral to the present-day populations may have passed through a severe bottleneck. The data are uninformative regarding the circumstances of this event.