Abstract

GOMEZ-LOPERA, Natalia  and  LOPEZ-GALLEGO, Cristina. Estimation of heritability and genetic correlations in morphological and physiological traits for a population of Zamia obliqua A.Br. (Zamiaceae: Cycadales). Actu Biol [online]. 2014, vol.36, n.101, pp.137-148. ISSN 0304-3584.

The response to natural selection of quantitative traits in a natural population depends on the magnitude of genetic variability and genetic correlations between traits, and these genetic parameters can differ between trait categories. In this study we characterized the patterns of phenotypic variance and covariance and estimated heritability and genetic correlation of morphological and physiological traits in a population of Zamia oblique (Zamiaceae: Cycadales). We tested the hypothesis that variance and heritability values are higher for morphological than for physiological traits, and that phenotypic and genetic correlations are larger within than between trait categories. Phenotypic variance values were higher for physiological traits than for morphological characters. Heritability estimates suggested that morphological traits had a higher genetic variance than physiological traits. On the other hand, significant estimates of genetic correlations among traits were not obtained. Nevertheless, phenotypic correlations show a higher correlation within morphological traits than within physiological traits or among physiological and morphological traits. These kinds of estimates for genetic parameters can help generate hypotheses about the evolution of phenotypic traits in natural populations, and represent important contributions to the study of evolutionary ecology in non-model species and their populations in natural habitats.

Keywords : phenotypic correlations; relatedness; phenotypic similarity; phenotypic variability; Zamiaceae.

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