Morphological variation of Allagoptera arenaria (Gomes) Kuntze, 1891 (Arecaceae) in continental and insular environment

Abstract

Various evolutionary and ecological aspects in isolated environments, such as islands, associated with speciation events, play a role in biological diversification. In this sense, the morphological characteristics of Allagoptera arenaria (Gomes) Kuntze, 1891 (Arecaceae) species on mainland and island were evaluated to detect possible differences that reflect adaptive responses to the island environment. This study provides the first demonstration on the relationship of morphological differences of A. arenaria species. Height, perimeter, and total number of fruits and flowers from each plant were used for nonparametric analysis using the Mann-Whitney U test. The plants of the island did not show evident patterns in the different morphological characteristics of the plants of the continent. It is believed that the species may not be a good representative of adaptive evidence for islands.