Effect of reproductive Interference on distributional relationships in Geranium

生殖干扰(RI)因其在近缘种间分布关系中的解释力而备受关注。我们以几种植物为研究对象，研究了同属种之间的RI是否影响了它们的分布关系，发现一对种间的RI相互影响，这可能是造成它们栖息地分割的原因之一。我们还发现了一种奇怪的分布格局，其中一些种群被认为是濒危物种，而另一些种群最近被发现是入侵植物。我们的分子系统发育分析表明，最近发现的种群更有可能是来自日本以外的来源。

Reproductive Interference (RI) has been gaining an attention for its explanatory power in distributional relationships between closely related species. We focused on several plants including Geranium species and investigated if RI between the congeneric species affected on their distributional relationships.Based on our study, we found that a pair of Geranium species exerted RI to each other, which might be a reason for their habitat partitioning. We also recognized a strange distributional pattern for G. robertianum in Japan, in which a few populations were known to be restricted as endangered but other populations were recently found supposedly as invasive plants. Our molecular phylogenetic analyses suggest that the recently found populations are more likely naturalized from sources outside Japan.