Genetic polymorphism in the bladder campion, Silene maritima.

A survey of protein variability has been made in wild populations of Silene maritima, a perennial outcrossing coastal plant. In the most extensively studied populations, at Beesands, six out of 21 loci were polymorphic, and the average heterozygosity was 0.153. Four polymorphic loci were studied on an extensive shingle beach at Dungeness. Three loci showed no frequency cline with distance from the sea; a fourth locus, that for adenylate kinase, showed a barely significant cline, which was not confirmed by a repeat study in the same place a year later. Five polymorphic loci were studied at Beesands along a strip of shingle beach and up a contiguous cliff. No frequency difference between the two habitats was observed. There are significant differences in allelic frequencies between localities. It is concluded that the data fail to show an association between habitat and gene frequency, although they were collected in such a way as to be capable of demonstrating such an association if it existed.