Genetic Diversity and Spatial Genetic Structure in Isolated Scots Pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) Populations Native to Eastern and Southern Carpathians

Abstract

Small, isolated populations are more vulnerable to natural disturbances and loss of genetic diversity. Scots pine, an abundant tree species in the boreal forest of Eurasia, has a scattered natural distribution across Eastern and Southern Carpathian Mountains, where only a few relict populations still exist. We estimated genetic diversity and spatial genetic structure in Scots pine on the basis of microsatellite nuclear markers (nSSR) data. We found a relatively high level of genetic diversity (He = 0.697) within populations and no evidence of recent bottlenecks. Genetic diversity was lower in peat bog populations, as compared to populations that grow on rocky slopes or acidic soils and nutrient-poor sites. Population genetic structure was weak, and genetic discontinuities among populations were detected. Spatial genetic structure (SGS) was observed in nearly all Scots pine populations. The strength of SGS, quantified by Sp statistics, varied greatly among populations, ranging from 0.0011 to 0.0207, with an average of 0.01. Our study highlights that Eastern and Southern Carpathian populations still possess high within-population diversity in spite of the recent fragmentation and reduction of the Scots pine natural distribution range. We discuss the importance of spatial patterns of genetic diversity for developing strategies of conservation and sustainable use of Scots pine genetic resources in the Carpathian region.

Genetic Structure, Differentiation and Originality of Pinus sylvestris L. Populations in the East of the East European Plain

“…The data obtained indicate the origin of several genetically differentiated populations and their groups in P. sylvestris in the study region. The revealed level of population differentiation is high and significantly exceeds that obtained in other studies of the genetic structure of P. sylvestris populations, according to isoenzyme analyses (4%) in the Southern Urals and microsatellite analyses (6%) in the Eastern and Southern Carpathians [46]. The probable reason for such differentiation may be related to the peculiarity of the chosen PCR-based DNA fingerprinting method, since ISSR loci are of high copy number and abundant in eukaryotic genomes.…”

Genetic resources of the oldest trees of Pinus sylvestris L. from the last natural forest in Europe

“…The nuclear microsatellite markers used in this study detected medium level of genetic variation in comparison to Scots pine populations from other regions of natural distribution of this species in Europe and Poland. Genetic diversity revealed in our study was very similar to that seen in some populations from Lithuania (Danusevicius et al, 2016), Carpathians (Sofletea et al, 2020) and two stands of Kampinos National Park in Poland (Przybylski et al, 2021). However, in comparison with other Scots pine populations from Poland (Przybylski et al, 2021;Nowakowska, 2016;Lesiczka et al, 2017), Sweden (García Gil et al, 2015, Estonia (Pazouki et al, 2015) it shows a lower level of genetic variation as measured by basic statistics (Table 2).…”

The evolutionary heritage and ecological uniqueness of Scots pine in the Caucasus ecoregion is at risk of climate changes

“…In the past, such populations were undervalued due to their genetic impoverishment and unpredictable demographic trends 7 . However, our study has demonstrated that, on average, the allelic and gene diversity of Scots pine populations in the South Caucasus and Anatolia is comparable to the core populations in the boreal forest 25 and to populations on the southern margins of the European range [74][75][76] . Indeed, the Caucasian-Anatolian populations are even more genetically variable than populations from Central and Northern Europe 77 , but less than in isolated Alpine populations 78 .…”