| Abstract: | Aims Our objectives were to determine the phenotypic variations, adaption and distribution patterns in seven natural Amygdalus pedunculata populations.Methods We analyzed 14 phenotypic traits from 120 individuals in seven populations of A. pedunculata by variance analysis, correlation analysis, and cluster analysis.Important findings Results showed that there were plentiful phenotypic variation within and among populations. In particular, the phenotypic variation within population was 40.91%, higher than that among populations (35.29%), which indicated that the phenotypic variation within population was the main source of the phenotypic variation in A. pedunculata. Mean differentiation coefficient was 45.90%, and mean coefficient of variation of 14 traits was 15.59%, ranged from 9.39% to 31.98%. Mean annual temperature, latitude, length of frost-free period, longitude and altitude appear to be prominent ecological factors influencing phenotypic traits. Mean annual temperature and length of frost-free period were key indicators to phenotypic of A. pedunculata in different site conditions. According to principal component analysis and unweighted pair-group method with arithmetic means (UPGMA) cluster analysis, the seven populations of A. pedunculata could be divided into two groups. In mountainous region, A. pedunculata’s leaf blade was usually rotund to oblong, fruit nearly spherical shape with shorter fruit stem, stone was usually ovoid to spherical shape. In contrast, in sandy region, leaf blade was long oval to ovate-lanceolate, fruit and stone was usually flat ovoid with longer fruit stem. Our results provide critical information for the resource collection and breeding of this ecologically important species. |
