The nature of the variability of the morphological characteristics of the taxon Jovibarba heuffelii (Schott) A. Löve & D. Löve (Crassulaceae) in Serbia

Abstract

Dimitrijević, D., Šinžar-Sekulić, J., Ranđelović, V., Lakušić, D.: The nature of the variability of themorphological characteristics of the taxon Jovibarba heuffelii (Schott) A. Löve & D. Löve (Crassulaceae)in Serbia, Biologica Nyssana, 2 (1), September 2011: 7-18.

The aim of this paper was to investigate the nature of the variability of the morphological characters of thespecies Jovibarba heuffelii (Schott) A. Löve & D. Löve in Serbia. Morphometric analyses were performedon 219 individuals from 10 populations. Total of 38 morphometric characters were analyzed (25 metric and13 ordinal). Statistical data analyses were done for 25 quantitative morphometric characters. Descriptivestatistics (mean, standard deviation, minimum, maximum and standard error, coefficient of variation) werecalculated for each character, together with correlative variability and variation between each character.Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was performed to identify significant variation between each character. Theresults of the analysis showed significant statistical variability of all investigated characters. Variability of thevegetative characters was higher when compared with reproductive characters. Also, the obtained resultspointed to the altitude and geological substratum as the most important factors for morphologicaldifferentiation of analyzed populations.

Key words: Jovibarba heuffelii, morphological characteristics, analysis