Multivariate morphometric analysis of two varieties ofLittorina saxatilisfrom the Swedish west coast
✍ Scribed by K. Janson; P. Sundberg
- Publisher
- Springer-Verlag
- Year
- 1983
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 465 KB
- Volume
- 74
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0025-3162
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
✦ Synopsis
Shell variation in Littorina saxatilis Olivi (=L. rudis) is examined with different techniques of multivariate analysis (canonical variate-, multiple discriminant-, principal component-, and principal coordinate analysis), in bivariate projections of the analyses, two populations, spatially only 60 m apart, but from different habitats, showed a phenotypic separation without overlap. One habitat is a boulder shore, while the other is a rocky cliff. A sample, geographically and environmentally intermediate to the exposed and sheltered populations, covered completely the morphologic gap between the two former groups, indicating a clinal variation in morphology over the environmental gradient exposed -sheltered. From this it is concluded that the two phenotypically distinct populations belong to the same species.