In the Sydney region, many plants from populations on windswept headlands have a more prostrate
growth habit compared with plants from populations of the same species occurring away from the
coast. To determine whether these different growth habits are genetically determined, plants from four
populations of each of five species (Acacia rnyrtifolia, Acacia suaveolens, Banksia ericifolia, Casuarina
distyla, Hakea teretifolia) were grown under uniform glasshouse conditions. Multivariate analyses of
six morphological characteristics indicate that, for four of these species, the offspring are similar to
their maternal parent; we thus conclude that the habit differences are genetically fixed in these populations.
The same trend is apparent for <I.C. distyla , although significant variation occurs in the offspring. Univariate
analyses indicate that different characteristics reflect the habit differences in different species. For
conservation biology, the implications of this intra-specific variation are that attempts should be made
to conserve viable populations of all genetically isolated taxa within a species.
From model to alfalfa: gene editing to obtain semidwarf and prostrate growth habits
