Conservation of Primula farinosa in Poland with respect to the genetic structure of populations

Zbigniew Gajewski,Ewa Sitek,Józef Mitka,Anna Lenart-Boroń,Piotr Boroń,Barbara Nowak

doi:10.5586/asbp.3577

Zbigniew Gajewski, Ewa Sitek + Show 4 more

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https://doi.org/10.5586/asbp.3577

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Abstract

The bird’s-eye primrose (Primula farinosa L.) is an endangered species in Poland. The sole remaining, and critically endangered, population of approximately 300 flowering plants is located in the Beskid Sądecki Mountains (Jaworki, Poland). The genetic investigation was performed using highly variable microsatellite markers on a total of four populations: the Polish population and its three nearest known Slovak counterparts. We hypothesize that the Polish population is a relic of the previously much wider Central European mountain/lowland range and is thus genetically distinct from the rest of the Slovak stock. Clarification of this issue is needed before active protection interventions such as artificial supplementation can be carried out. Our results, particularly those from STRUCTURE Bayesian clustering, showed clear population structure within the dataset: all three Slovak populations were dominated by one genetic group, while the Polish population comprised mostly individuals dominated by the second genetic group. Only limited gene flow was observed between the Polish and Slovak populations. This demonstrates the distinct genetic makeup of the Jaworki population, which is probably the result of prolonged isolation from the rest of the P. farinosa range and admixture of genes from various lineages. Their origin could be determined by including plant material from the rest of the P. farinosa range, i.e., Scandinavian, Baltic, and Alpine/Carpathian locations, in a future study. The immediate practical application of our results is the recommendation that all supplementation interventions to the Jaworki population must be limited to plants produced from locally collected seeds.

Highlights

The genetic diversity of a species is one of the most important factors affecting its ability to respond to changing environmental conditions, the preservation of sufficient genetic variation within protected populations of endangered species is a crucial element in plant conservation [1,2]
Similar results were obtained for other Primula species: P. apennina [37] and P. veris [38]. Both basic genetic indexes used in our study show that the Polish population PL is the most variable of the four studied
The Slovak population SL1 was the least internally differentiated. These results indicate that the genetic variability of the PL population, the sole remaining Polish population of P. farinosa in Jaworki, is not yet diminished by either the bottleneck effect resulting from low population size or geographic isolation limiting admixture from other populations

Summary

Introduction

The genetic diversity of a species is one of the most important factors affecting its ability to respond to changing environmental conditions, the preservation of sufficient genetic variation within protected populations of endangered species is a crucial element in plant conservation [1,2]. A conflicting obligation is the need to retain the specific genetic makeup of a population, resulting from its adaption to the local ecological conditions. These opposite principles of plant conservation have an immediate practical implication: the question concerning the source of plant material. Gajewski et al / Conservation of Primula farinosa in Poland assure its origin and integrity. If the certificate is missing or invalid it is recommended to verify the article on the journal website

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