Confirmation of clonal reproduction of Fagus crenata Blume from Sado Island, Niigata Prefecture

Abstract

AbstractWhile clonal growth is important in the East Asian Fagus subgenus Engleriana and the North American Fagus grandifolia (subgenus Fagus), for other subgenus Fagus species the vast majority of regeneration involves sexual reproduction with clonal growth only rarely observed. Here we aim to confirm using nuclear microsatellite markers whether clonal growth occurs in the Japanese endemic species Fagus crenata (subgenus Fagus) by investigating the origin of multi‐stemmed clumps found within a high‐elevation dwarf beech forest on Sado Island, Niigata Prefecture. We found that all stems collected from three separate clumps belonged to the same clump‐specific multi‐locus genotypes. The maximum size of clones was 3–4 m in diameter, comparable in size to those seen in the predominantly asexually regenerating Japanese species Fagus japonica (subgenus Engleriana). The species capacity for clonal growth is likely to underlie its ability to persist at high‐elevation exposed sites at the limits of its ecological range.