Search results for "Heterospory"

Dispersal and colonization in heterosporous lycophytes: palynological and biogeographical notes on the genus Isoetes in the Mediterranean region

2016

After a short review of the available information on dispersal in the heterosporous genus Isoetes, which has been the subject of some mainly anecdotal or occasional observations, a case study in the Mediterranean area is presented. In the geographical context given by the island of Sicily with its satellite islets and archipelagos, the distribution of terrestrial and amphibian Isoetes species was analysed to verify if any of them occurred in the oceanic (‘thalassogenous’) islets, never connected to the mainland. The only species revealed to be able to cross the geographical and ecological barrier represented by the sea and colonize some volcanic islands was Isoetes durieui Bory, a terrestri…