Absence of Genetic Variation in Scandinavian Populations of Elymus Mutabilis (Drob.) Tzvel. (Poaceae)

Abstract

Elymus mutabilis (Drob.) Tzvel. is a caespitose, perennial, self-pollinating and allotetraploid species with a wide distribution area ranging from northern Europe to the north and central parts of Asia (TZVELEV 1976). It is considered to be a rare taxon, but not endangered, in Scandinavia. It occurs in the most northern parts of Norway, Sweden and Finland (HYLANDER 1953). It usually has a patchy distribution pattern with populations of varying sizes. It grows on meadows, among willows and in birch forests mostly in the subalpine zone, and it is not a morphologically variable species in Scandinavia (HYLANDER 1953). It is found alone or sympatrically with E. caninus (L.) L., E. jibrosus (Schrenk) Tzvel. and/or E. alaskanus (Scrib. ex Merr.) Love. This study forms part of a larger investigation for analysing genetic diversity and structure in Eurasian Etymus species, especially from the Nordic region. An overall aim is to establish the prerequisites for efficient conservation strategies of the genetic diversity in Elymus (SALOMON 1995; SALOMON et al. 1996; DIAZ et al. 1996). The genetic variation in E. mutabilis has previously been studied in a few accessions from a large geographic area using isozymes (DIAz et al. 1998). The present study is aimed to determine the amount of genetic variation within and among populations of E. mutabilis from Scandinavia by using allozymes. Allozyme electrophoresis has proved to be useful for estimating levels of intraand interpopulational genetic variation (BROWN and WEIR 1983).