Open AccessPinus mugo (Pinaceae) in the Abruzzi Mountains: high morphological variation in isolated populations
Author(s) -
BORATYŃSKA KRYSTYNA,
MARCYSIAK KATARZYNA,
BORATYŃSKI ADAM
Publication year - 2005
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 - 10.1111/j.1095-8339.2005.00374.x
Subject(s) - pinaceae , biology , range (aeronautics) , population , pinus <genus> , pleistocene , variation (astronomy) , phylogeography , ecology , botany , phylogenetics , paleontology , demography , materials science , physics , sociology , astrophysics , composite material , biochemistry , gene
Thirty‐three individuals of Pinus mugo from the Abruzzian Apennines (Italy), the most isolated population of the species, were examined biometrically to verify the range of trait variation and compared with six other populations sampled in the north‐eastern part of the species range. Ten needles and ten cones from each individual were measured and quantified on the basis of 31 traits. The interpopulation comparison revealed a close affinity of the Abruzzian population of P. mugo to three of the six other populations. The other three north‐eastern populations, one from the Tatra Mountains and two from the Chornokhora Mountains, appeared to be different. This suggests that these populations originated from other Pleistocene centres of occurrence. The intrapopulation variation of the population from the Abruzzian Apennines is comparable with those of all six populations of P. mugo from the Sudety and Carpathian Mountains. These findings support the hypothesis that isolated but locally abundant plant populations do not necessarily show a reduction in variability resulting from isolation. © 2005 The Linnean Society of London, Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society , 2005, 147 , 309–316.