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Geographically Related Variation in Epicuticular Wax Traits of Pinus nigra Populations from Southern Carpathians and Central Balkans – Taxonomic Considerations
Author(s) -
Mitić Zorica S.,
Zlatković Bojan K.,
Jovanović Snežana Č.,
Stojanović Gordana S.,
Marin Petar D.
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
chemistry and biodiversity
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.427
H-Index - 70
eISSN - 1612-1880
pISSN - 1612-1872
DOI - 10.1002/cbdv.201500322
Subject(s) - subspecies , epicuticular wax , wax , population , botany , biogeography , chemotaxonomy , balkan peninsula , latitude , taxonomy (biology) , biology , geography , ecology , biochemistry , demography , geodesy , sociology
The chemical composition of epicuticular waxes of nine populations from three Pinus nigra J. F. Arnold subspecies (namely subsp. nigra , subsp. banatica ( Borbás ) Novák , and subsp. pallasiana ( Lamb .) Holmboe ) from Southern Carpathians and central Balkan Peninsula were analyzed using GC/MS and GC/FID chromatography, and multivariate statistical techniques with respect to biogeography and taxonomy. In the needle waxes, four primary alcohols and 14 n ‐alkanes ranging from C 21 to C 33 were identified, and the most abundant compounds were the four odd‐numbered n ‐alkanes C 27 , C 25 , C 23 , and C 29. Multivariate statistical analyses ( CDA and CA ) have shown existence of three P. nigra groups and suggested clinal differentiation as a mechanism of genetic variation across a geographic area: the first group consisted of the southernmost populations of subsp. pallasiana from Macedonia, the second consisted of the northernmost subsp. banatica populations from Romania, while all populations in Serbia described as three different subspecies ( nigra , banatica , and pallasiana ) formed the third group together with subsp. nigra population from Bosnia and Herzegovina. According to simple linear regression, geographic latitude and four bioclimatic parameters were moderately correlated with the contents of epicuticular wax compounds that are important in population discrimination, while stepwise multiple regression showed that latitude participated in most of the regression models for predicting the composition of the epicuticular waxes. These results agree with CDA and CA analysis, and confirmed the possibility of recognition of fine geographic differentiation of the analyzed P. nigra populations.