Open AccessGenetic variation and clonal diversity in island Cephalanthera rubra populations from the Biebrza National Park, Poland
Author(s) -
BRZOSKO EMILIA,
WRÓBLEWSKA ADA
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
botanical journal of the linnean society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.872
H-Index - 68
eISSN - 1095-8339
pISSN - 0024-4074
DOI - 10.1046/j.1095-8339.2003.00201.x
Subject(s) - biology , gene flow , population , locus (genetics) , genetic diversity , genetic variation , national park , zoology , ecology , genetics , gene , demography , sociology
Three populations of the orchid species Cephalanthera rubra localized on neighbouring mineral islands in the Biebrza National Park (north‐east Poland) were examined using 16 allozyme loci. The percentage of polymorphic loci in these C. rubra populations ranged from 25 to 31.3% and the mean number of alleles per polymorphic locus from 1.25 to 1.31. The levels of observed heterozygosity at polymorphic loci were higher than expected for all populations. The overabundance of heterozygotes was noted in every population. The values of fixation indices were highly negative. The genetic differentiation among the three populations was small ( F ST = 0.0173), albeit statistically significant ( P < 0.001). The level of gene flow varied from 13 to 16. Fourteen multilocus genotypes were found among the 401 ramets sampled from the populations. Only four of them were common for all populations. The frequency of genotypes was different in these three populations of C. rubra . Some of the multilocus genotypes dominated in the given populations, others were found sporadically. Genetic variation within C. rubra populations is mainly the result of small population sizes and reflects the influences of breeding system and type of reproduction. On the other hand, these properties are also connected with habitat conditions. © 2003 The Linnean Society of London, Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society , 2003, 143 , 99–108.