Piotr Androsiuk, Zbigniew Kaczmarek, Lech Urbaniak
The morphological traits of needles as markers of geographical differentiation in European Pinus sylvestris populations
Dendrobiology 2011, vol. 65: 03-16
Abstract: To evaluate the geographic variability of Pinus sylvestris populations seven morphological traits of needles of pines from IUFRO 1982 provenance trial have been analyzed. The studied populations originated from northern (>55°N in Russia, Sweden and Latvia), central (55-47°N in Poland, Germany, Belgium, France, Slovakia) and southern (<47°N in Hungary, Bosnia, Montenegro and Turkey) European ranges of Scots pine. The analyzed provenance trial experimental areas were located in Kórnik (western Poland) and in Supraśl (north-eastern Poland). The greatest variation was found in needle length and number of stomata rows on the flat and convex side of a needle, whereas number of stomata per 2mmof needle length on flat and convex side of a needle was stable, with minor interpopulational variation. Biometrical analyses revealed a significant population × location interaction and a geographical pattern in interpopulational differentiation in both experimental sites, with the northern and southern European Scots pine groups of provenances differing significantly from the group of central origin. The results obtained are compatible with previous results of studies on provenance variability of the Scots pine from IUFRO 1982. In the light of available data, the influence of the Balkan glacial refugia of Pinus sylvestris on a present genetic diversity of this species in Europe and the reconstruction of Scots pine migration routes after the last glacial period are discussed.
Additional key words: interpopulational variability, migration routes, population × location interaction, provenance trial