Genetic consequences of glacial survival and postglacial colonization in Norway spruce: combined analysis of mitochondrial DNA and fossil pollen |
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| Authors: | MARI METTE TOLLEFSRUD ROY KISSLING FELIX GUGERLI ØYSTEIN JOHNSEN TORE SKRØPPA RACHID CHEDDADI W O VAN DER KNAAP MA?GORZATA LATA?OWA RUTH TERHÜRNE‐BERSON THOMAS LITT THOMAS GEBUREK CHRISTIAN BROCHMANN CHRISTOPH SPERISEN |
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| Institution: | 1. Norwegian Forest and Landscape Institute, H?gskoleveien 12, NO‐1432 ?s, Norway,;2. Swiss Federal Research Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL), Zürcherstrasse 111, CH‐8903 Birmensdorf, Switzerland,;3. Present address: Molecular Ecology, Agroscope Reckenholz‐T?nikon Research Station, Reckenholzstrasse 191, CH‐8046 Zürich, Switzerland.;4. Institute of Evolutionary Sciences, CNRS UMR 5554, University of Montpellier II, F‐34095 Montpellier, France,;5. Institute of Plant Sciences, University of Bern, Altenbergrain 21, CH‐3013 Bern, Switzerland,;6. Laboratory of Palaeoecology and Archaeobotany, Department of Plant Ecology, University of Gdańsk, Al. Legionów 9, PL‐80441 Gdańsk, Poland,;7. Institute of Palaeontology, University of Bonn, Nussallee 8, D‐53115 Bonn, Germany,;8. Department of Genetics, Research and Training Centre for Forests, Natural Hazards and Landscape (BFW), Hauptstrasse 7, A‐1140 Vienna, Austria,;9. National Centre for Biosystematics, Natural History Museum, University of Oslo, PO Box 1172, Blindern, NO‐0318 Oslo, Norway |
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| Abstract: | Norway spruce (Picea abies L.] Karst.) is a broadly distributed European conifer tree whose history has been intensively studied by means of fossil records to infer the location of full‐glacial refugia and the main routes of postglacial colonization. Here we use recently compiled fossil pollen data as a template to examine how past demographic events have influenced the species’ modern genetic diversity. Variation was assessed in the mitochondrial nad1 gene containing two minisatellite regions. Among the 369 populations (4876 trees) assayed, 28 mitochondrial variants were identified. The patterns of population subdivision superimposed on interpolated fossil pollen distributions indicate that survival in separate refugia and postglacial colonization has led to significant structuring of genetic variation in the southern range of the species. The populations in the northern range, on the other hand, showed a shallow genetic structure consistent with the fossil pollen data, suggesting that the vast northern range was colonized from a single refugium. Although the genetic diversity decreased away from the putative refugia, there were large differences between different colonization routes. In the Alps, the diversity decreased over short distances, probably as a result of population bottlenecks caused by the presence of competing tree species. In northern Europe, the diversity was maintained across large areas, corroborating fossil pollen data in suggesting that colonization took place at high population densities. The genetic diversity increased north of the Carpathians, probably as a result of admixture of expanding populations from two separate refugia. |
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| Keywords: | fossil pollen glacial refugia minisatellite Picea abies plant mtDNA range expansion |
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