Feral populations of domesticated crops can establish through two nonmutually exclusive pathways: hybridization with native relatives and recruitment of and recombination between known cultivars. The extent and relative importance of these pathways is not known, especially for woody fruit crops. Here, we examined the evolutionary origins of feral populations of Malus domestica (domestic apple) in southern Canada using a popula...

Willows ( Salix : Salicaceae) form a major ecological component of Holarctic floras and consequently are an obvious target for a DNA ‐based identification system. We surveyed two to seven plastid genome regions (~3.8 kb; ~3% of the genome) from 71 Salix species across all five subgenera, to assess their performance as DNA barcode markers. Although Salix has a relatively high level of interspecific hybridization, this may not s...

Clonal reproduction is associated with the incidence of polyploidy in flowering plants. This pattern may arise through selection for increased clonality in polyploids compared to diploids to reduce mixed‐ploidy mating. Here, we test whether clonal reproduction is greater in tetraploid than diploid populations of the mixed‐ploidy plant, Chamerion angustifolium, through an analysis of the size and spatial distribution of clones...

Our understanding of the spatial organization of root diversity in plant communities and of the mechanisms of community assembly has been limited by our ability to identify plants based on root tissue, especially in diverse communities. Here, we test the effectiveness of the plastid gene rbcL , a core plant DNA barcoding marker, for investigating spatial patterns of root diversity, and relate observed patterns to above‐ground...

Studies of multitrophic interactions between below‐ and aboveground communities have generally focused on soil organisms and antagonists of plant shoots and leaves (herbivores). Despite the widespread occurrence of plant mutualists below‐ and aboveground which can occur on the same host plant, the potential for interactions between them has not been considered. Here we demonstrate that aboveground plant mutualists, insect poll...