Hamed Yousefzadeh, Rasta Rajaei, Anna Jasińska, Łukasz Walas, Yann Fragnière, Gregor Kozlowski. (2018). Genetic diversity and differentiation of the riparian relict tree Pterocarya fraxinifolia (Juglandaceae) along altitudinal gradients in the Hyrcanian forest (Iran). Silva Fennica vol. 52 no. 5 article id 10000. https://doi.org/10.14214/sf.10000

Keywords: plant variation; Caucasian wingnut; population genetics; refugium; riparian forest; river system

Highlights: The Caucasian wingnut (Pterocarya fraxinifolia Spach) is an emblematic and relict riparian tree with limited distribution in Hyrcanian forest which investigating its genetic population structure and diversity along altitudinal gradients, and migration patterns are novel; We concluded that rivers are the main seed dispersal vector among P. fraxinifolia populations and there was no trend from upstream to downstream; The high level of gene flow and uniform genetic diversity along each river system suggest the “classical” metapopulation structure of the species.

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Riparian trees, especially relict trees, are attractive and important for research to understand both past and recent biogeographical and evolutionary processes. Our work is the first study to elucidate the genetic diversity and spatial genetic structure of the canopy-dominating riparian Pterocarya fraxinifolia (Juglandaceae) along two altitudinal gradients in different river systems of the Hyrcanian forest, which is one of the most important refugium of relict trees in Western Eurasia. Altitudinal gradients were chosen along two river systems at 100, 400 and 900 m a.s.l. Leaf samples were collected from 116 trees, and the genetic diversity was evaluated with eight SSR markers. Overall, 39 alleles were identified for all of the populations studied. The observed heterozygosity (Ho) varied from 0.79 to 0.87 (with a mean of 0.83). The results of the AMOVA analysis indicated that the variation within populations was 88%, whereas the variation among populations was 12% for all of the gradients. A structure analysis indicated that 93% of the trees were grouped in the same gradient. The genetic distance based on Fst confirmed the structure result and indicated a high rate of gene flow among the investigated populations. Based on high gene flow (low differentiation of the population along the same river) and the clearly distinct genetic structure of the investigated gradients, it can be concluded that rivers are the main seed dispersal vector among P. fraxinifolia populations. The genetic diversity of P. fraxinifolia did not show any trend from upstream to downstream. The high level of gene flow and uniform genetic diversity along each river suggest the “classical” metapopulation structure of the species.

Yousefzadeh, Department of Environmental Science, Faculty of Natural Resources and Marine Sciences, Tarbiat Modares University, Noor, Mazandaran, Iran E-mail: h.yousefzadeh@modares.ac.ir
Rajaei, Department of Forestry, Faculty of Natural Resources and Marine Sciences, Tarbiat Modares University, Noor, Mazandaran, Iran E-mail: r.rajaei@modares.ac.ir
Jasińska, Laboratory of Systematics and Geography, Institute of Dendrology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Parkowa 5, PL-62-035 Kornik, Poland E-mail: jasiak9@wp.pl
Walas, Laboratory of Systematics and Geography, Institute of Dendrology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Parkowa 5, PL-62-035 Kornik, Poland E-mail: lukaswalas@wp.pl
Fragnière, Department of Biology and Botanic Garden, University of Fribourg, Chemin du Musée 10, CH-1700 Fribourg, Switzerland E-mail: yann.fragniere@unifr.ch
Kozlowski, Department of Biology and Botanic Garden, University of Fribourg, Chemin du Musée 10, CH-1700 Fribourg, Switzerland; Natural History Museum Fribourg, Chemin du Musée 6, CH-1700 Fribourg, Switzerland E-mail: gregor.kozlowski@unifr.ch

Category : Research note

article id 268, category Research note

Adam Boratynski, Katarzyna Marcysiak, Amelia Lewandowska, Anna Jasinska, Grzegorz Iszkulo, Jaroslaw Burczyk. (2008). Differences in leaf morphology between Quercus petraea and Q. robur adult and young individuals. Silva Fennica vol. 42 no. 1 article id 268. https://doi.org/10.14214/sf.268

Keywords: morphological diversity; plant variation; biometry; Quercus; leaf polymorphism

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The characters of Quercus robur and Q. petraea leaves are of main taxonomic value and the adult trees of both species can be distinguished on them. However, young individuals, mostly seedlings but also saplings, are told to be undistinguishable or only partly distinguishable on the leaf morphology. The aim of the study was to verify this hypothesis on the basis of biometrical analyses of leaf characteristics of adults trees and saplings in two mixed oak woods, one located close to the north-eastern limit, the other about 400 km inside of the Q. petraea range in Poland. The analysis of discriminations and minimum spanning tree on the squares of Mahalanobis distances were analysed to find differences between Q. robur, Q. petraea and intermediate adults and saplings. The differences between saplings of Q. robur and Q. petraea were found lower than between adult trees. Nevertheless, the biometrical analysis confirmed determination of saplings in the field.

Boratynski, Polish Academy of Sciences, Institute of Dendrology, 5 Parkowa str., 62-035 Kórnik, Poland E-mail: borata@man.poznan.pl
Marcysiak, Kazimierz Wielki University, Institute of Biology and Environment Protection, 12 Ossolinskich str., 85-064 Bydgoszcz, Poland E-mail: km@nn.pl
Lewandowska, Kazimierz Wielki University, Institute of Biology and Environment Protection, 12 Ossolinskich str., 85-064 Bydgoszcz, Poland E-mail: al@nn.pl
Jasinska, Polish Academy of Sciences, Institute of Dendrology, 5 Parkowa str., 62-035 Kórnik, Poland E-mail: aj@nn.pl
Iszkulo, Polish Academy of Sciences, Institute of Dendrology, 5 Parkowa str., 62-035 Kórnik, Poland E-mail: gi@nn.pl
Burczyk, Kazimierz Wielki University, Institute of Biology and Environment Protection, 12 Ossolinskich str., 85-064 Bydgoszcz, Poland E-mail: jb@nn.pl

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