High genetic diversity in fragmented Iris pumila L. populations in Ukrainian steppe enclaves

Dembicz, Iwona; Szczeparska, Liliana; Moysiyenko, Ivan; Wódkiewicz, Maciej

doi:10.1016/j.baae.2018.02.009

Cited by 18 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 52 publications

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“…Due to their special dome shape, kurgans contain several contrasting microhabitats within a small area (Lisetskii et al 2016). Their slopes with different inclinations are characterised by different microclimate and soil conditions leading to a high level of microhabitat diversity (Dembicz et al 2018;Lisetskii et al 2016).…”

Section: Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…old recovered grasslands preserving a considerable proportion of the habitat specific species pool), often exist as habitat islands, such as rocky outcrops, midfield islets, ancient burial mounds and cemeteries. Grassland fragments can also be found on linear landscape elements such as road verges, field margins and river embankments (Bátori et al 2016;Dembicz et al 2018;Löki et al 2019). A common attribute of these fragmented habitats is the presence of an unfriendly matrix around them, which is generally represented by agricultural fields or urban areas.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Fragmented dry grasslands preserve unique components of plant species and phylogenetic diversity in agricultural landscapes

et al. 2020

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In intensively used landscapes biodiversity is often restricted to fragmented habitats. Exploring the biodiversity potential of habitat fragments is essential in order to reveal their complementary role in maintaining landscape-scale biodiversity. We investigated the conservation potential of dry grassland fragments in the Great Hungarian Plain, i.e. patch-like habitats on ancient burial mounds and linear-shaped habitats in verges, and compared them to continuous grasslands. We focused on plant taxonomic diversity, species richness of specialists, generalists and weeds, and the phylogenetic diversity conserved in the habitats. Verges meshing the landscape are characterised by a small core area and high level of disturbance. Their species pool was more similar to grasslands than mounds due to the lack of dispersal limitations. They held high species richness of weeds and generalists and only few specialists. Verges preserved only a small proportion of the evolutionary history of specialists, which were evenly distributed between the clades. Isolated mounds are characterised by a small area, a high level of environmental heterogeneity, and a low level of disturbance. Steep slopes of species accumulation curves suggest that high environmental heterogeneity likely contributes to the high species richness of specialists on mounds. Mounds preserved the same amount of phylogenetic diversity represented by the branch-lengths as grasslands. Abundance-weighted evolutionary distinctiveness of specialists was more clustered in these habitats due to the special habitat conditions. For the protection of specialists in transformed landscapes it is essential to focus efforts on preserving both patch-like and linear grassland fragments containing additional components of biodiversity.

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Section: Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fragmented dry grasslands preserve unique components of plant species and phylogenetic diversity in agricultural landscapes

et al. 2020

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“…Other rare Central European plants such as Saxifraga rosacea subsp. sponhemica (Walisch et al 2014), Arnica montana (Maurice et al 2016) and Iris pumila (Dembicz et al 2018) are also known to have conserved high levels of genetic diversity despite strong habitat fragmentation. The longevity of these plants and the long-term stability of their habitats could explain the maintenance of genetic diversity (Young et al 1996;Tang et al 2010).…”

Section: Genetic Diversity and Population Structure Of G Palustrismentioning

confidence: 99%

Genetic status of the endangered plant species Gladiolus palustris in the western part of its distribution area

et al. 2019

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Many endangered plant species suffer from the effects of ongoing fragmentation of their populations leading to a loss of genetic diversity through genetic drift. In addition, populations of rare plants may also be affected by hybridization with other plant species. We studied the genetic population structure of populations of the endangered Gladiolus palustris in the western limit of its distribution area using AFLP markers. In addition, we clarified the taxonomic status of populations where hybridization with the closely related G. imbricatus was suspected based on morphology by sequencing the ITS region of the nuclear ribosomal DNA as well as two regions of the chloroplast DNA. Our analysis of the genetic population structure of G. palustris revealed a strong differentiation among geographical regions, which was much higher than the differentiation among populations within regions. Most populations retained a considerable amount of genetic variation. To counteract the future loss of genetic diversity through drift, we recommend using the largest populations per region as seed source to increase genetic diversity in genetic depauperate populations of the same region. Our genetic analyses indicated that some French populations of G. palustris are of hybrid origin. These hybridization events are likely to be ancient as these populations are very isolated and some parent taxa went regionally extinct. As these hybrid populations may elucidate post-glacial distribution patterns of related Gladiolus taxa, we advocate that they deserve the same conservation efforts as purebred ones.

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“…Other types of SNFs have religious or cultural importance, which prevented their agricultural utilisation (Dudley et al 2009;Molnár V. et al 2017;Löki et al 2019). Amongst them, ancient burial mounds (also called kurgans) of the Eurasian steppe and forest steppe regions are of particular importance (Sudnik-Wójcikowska et al 2011;Bede et al 2015;Bede and Csathó 2019;Deák et al 2016aDeák et al , 2019Dembicz et al 2018). They are earthen mounds of a few metres height, which were constructed from the topsoil layers of the surrounding areas by nomadic steppic tribes several millennia ago, mainly for burial purposes (Dembicz et al 2016;Lisetskii et al 2016).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Legacies of past land use challenge grassland recovery – An example from dry grasslands on ancient burial mounds

Deák¹,

Valkó²,

Tóth³

et al. 2020

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Due to large-scale agricultural intensification, grasslands are often restricted to habitat islands in human-transformed landscapes. There are approximately half a million ancient burial mounds built by nomadic steppic tribes in the Eurasian steppe and forest steppe zones, which act as habitat islands for dry grassland vegetation. Land use intensification, such as arable farming and afforestation by non-native woody species are amongst the major threats for Eurasian dry grasslands, including grasslands on mounds. After the launch of the Good Agricultural and Environmental Condition framework of the European Union, in Hungary there is a tendency for ceasing crop production and cutting non-native woody plantations, in order to conserve these unique landmarks and restore the historical grassland vegetation on the mounds. In this study, restoration prospects of dry grassland habitats were studied on kurgans formerly covered by croplands and Robinia pseudoacacia plantations. Soil and vegetation characteristics were studied in thespontaneously recovering grasslands. The following questions were addressed: 1; How does site history affect the spontaneous grassland recovery? 2; Do residual soil nutrients play a role in grassland recovery? In former croplands, excess phosphorus, while in former Robinia plantations, excess nitrogen was present in the soil even four years after the land use change and grassland vegetation was in an early or mid-successional stage both on the mounds. The results showed that, without proper management measures, recovery of grassland vegetation is slow on mounds formerly used as cropland or black locust plantation. However, restoration efforts, focused on the restoration of mounds formerly covered by croplands, can be more effective compared to the restoration of mounds formerly covered by forest plantations.

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High genetic diversity in fragmented Iris pumila L. populations in Ukrainian steppe enclaves

Cited by 18 publications

References 52 publications

Fragmented dry grasslands preserve unique components of plant species and phylogenetic diversity in agricultural landscapes

Fragmented dry grasslands preserve unique components of plant species and phylogenetic diversity in agricultural landscapes

Genetic status of the endangered plant species Gladiolus palustris in the western part of its distribution area

Legacies of past land use challenge grassland recovery – An example from dry grasslands on ancient burial mounds

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