Morphological variation and population structure on the island of Korčula, Yugoslavia

1824-3096

Head dimension ; body dimension ; population structure ; Dalmatia-sreroatia ; Yugoslavia

Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000

Biology

Abstract A comparison of head and body morphology on the ecologically uniform island of Korčula provides a good example of the balance that occurs in microevolution between selective pressures toward homogenization and selective inertia toward heterogeneity. thirty-eight measurements were made from a sample of 471 males and 526 females. Head variables, being more eco-stable than body variables, remain relatively more different between two distinct populations (eastern and western villages) than do the more eco-labile body variables, although both do vary significantly between east and west. The differences apply to both men and women. These east-west contrasts reflect the differential migration of Slavs to the island over the past three centuries, with a new wave of immigrants settling mainly in the east and introducing a new gene pool to the pre-existing Slavic hybrid population which had settled the island in the sixth to the eighth centuries. In addition to the predominant east-west differences in morphology, we also find significant variation between all villages in both head and body variables. We conclude that this is an indication of the considerable reproductive isolation that has persisted between all villages until the post-World War II period.

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