A major drawback of Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphisms (AFLP) as genetic makers for phylogeographic studies is their lack of a temporal dimension. In a recent publication in Molecular Ecology, Kropf et al. (2009) proposed a molecular clock for AFLP. In this comment we evaluate the proposed approach both theoretically and empirically. A linear increase with time is a prerequisite to use a genetic distance as molecular cloc...

To fully understand the contemporary genetic structure of plants, both nuclear and plastid markers are needed. Three chloroplast DNA (cpDNA) lineages, which probably diverged before the major Pleistocene glaciations, have been identified in the circumpolar/circumboreal Vaccinium uliginosum . Here we investigate its nuclear DNA variation using nuclear ribosomal internal transcribed spacer (ITS) sequences, DNA ploidy level measu...

We address the impact of the ice age cycles on intraspecific cpDNA diversity, for the first time on the full circumboreal‐circumarctic scale. The bird‐dispersed bog bilberry (or arctic blueberry, Vaccinium uliginosum ) is a key component of northern ecosystems and is here used to assess diversity in previously glaciated vs. unglaciated areas and the importance of Beringia as a refugium and source for interglacial expansion. Ei...