Abstract

NAVA-CRUZ, Yolanda; ESPINOSA-GARCIA, Francisco J.  and  FURNIER-WHITELAW, Glenn R.. Levels and patterns of chemical variation in leaf resins of the genus Abies from northern México. Agrociencia [online]. 2006, vol.40, n.2, pp.229-238. ISSN 2521-9766.

Frequent interspecific hybridization of the genus Abies poses difficulties in its taxonomic classification causing broad morphological intraspecific variation. Thus, the proposals for classifying species of Abies are discordant. In this study the composition of the volatile fraction of leaf resins of 11 populations of four species of Abies of northern México (two A. concolor, three A. durangensis, two A. coahuilensis and four A. vejari) was analyzed by gas chromatography to explore the Phylogenetic relationships and levels of differentiation among Species and populations. The multivariate and phenetic analyses reveal little differentiation among species. Also, none of the results coincide with present taxonomic schemes. Broad variation was found among populations within the taxa (39.42%) and little among these (1.69%). This corroborates inconsistency in the definition of the species and varieties proposed for northern Mexico. These results suggest that the populations of Abies analyzed possibly form part of varieties that are undergoing a process of differentiation that originated from southern migrations of Abies concolor, or that these populations differentiated among themselves, but later genetic contact favored homogenization.

Keywords : Abies coahuilensis; Abies concolor; Abies durangensis; Abies vejari; chemiotaxonomy; terpenoids.

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