Leaf n‐Alkanes as Characters Differentiating Coastal and Continental Juniperus deltoides Populations from the Balkan Peninsula |
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Authors: | Nemanja Raj?evi? Pedja Jana?kovi? Tanja Dodo? Vele Te?evi? Srdjan Bojovi? Petar D Marin |
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Institution: | 1. University of Belgrade, Faculty of Biology, Institute of Botany and Botanical Garden ‘Jevremovac', Studentski trg 16, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia;2. University of Belgrade, Faculty of Chemistry, Studentski trg 16, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia;3. University of Belgrade, Institute for Biological Research ‘Sinisa Stankovic', Bulevar Despota Stefana 142, 11060 Belgrade, Serbia |
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Abstract: | The composition of the cuticular n‐alkanes isolated from the leaves of nine populations of Juniperus deltoides R.P.Adams from continental and coastal areas of the Balkan Peninsula was characterized by GC‐FID and GC/MS analyses. In the leaf waxes, 14 n‐alkane homologues with chain‐lengths ranging from C22 to C35 were identified. n‐Tritriacontane (C33) was dominant in the waxes of all populations, but variations between the populations in the contents of all n‐alkanes were observed. Several statistical methods (ANOVA, principal component, discriminant, and cluster analyses) were used to investigate the diversity and variability of the cuticular‐leaf‐n‐alkane patterns of the nine J. deltoides populations. This is the first report on the n‐alkane composition for this species. The multivariate statistical analyses evidenced a high correlation of the leaf‐n‐alkane pattern with the geographical distribution of the investigated samples, differentiating the coastal from the continental populations of this taxon. |
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Keywords: | Juniperus deltoides Alkanes Discriminant analysis Principal component analysis (PCA) Hierarchical cluster analysis (CA) |
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