Abstract
Due to land-use intensification, lowland and colline populations of many plants of nutrient-poor grasslands have been strongly fragmented in the last decades, with potentially negative consequences for their genetic diversity and persistence. Populations in mountains might represent a genetic reservoir for grassland plants, because they have been less affected by land-use changes. We studied the genetic structure and diversity of colline and montane Vosges populations of the threatened perennial plant Arnica montana in western central Europe using AFLP markers. Our results indicate that in contrast to our expectation even strongly fragmented colline populations of A. montana have conserved a considerable amount of genetic diversity. However, mean seed mass increased with the proportion of polymorphic loci, suggesting inbreeding effects in low diversity populations. At a similar small geographical scale there was a clear IBD pattern for the montane Vosges but not for the colline populations. However, there was a strong IBD-pattern for the colline populations at a large geographical scale suggesting that this pattern is a legacy of historical gene flow, as most of the colline populations are today strongly isolated from each other. Genetic differentiation between colline and montane Vosges populations was strong. Moreover, results of a genome scan study indicated differences in loci under selection, suggesting that plants from montane Vosges populations might be maladapted to conditions at colline sites. Our results suggest caution in using material from montane populations of rare plants for the reinforcement of small genetically depauperate lowland populations.
Highlights
Nutrient-poor grasslands in lowland areas have been strongly fragmented during the last decades due to changes in land-use, nutrient enrichment through fertilizers or the cessation of traditional agricultural practices (Ratcliffe 1984; Bignal and McCracken 1996)
Small and isolated populations are threatened through a loss of genetic diversity due to genetic drift and reduced gene flow (Young et al 1996; Jacquemyn et al 2009), because the loss of genetic variation and increased inbreeding are expected to lead to lower fitness of individual plants and a reduced ability of the populations to respond to environmental changes (Kery and Matthies 2004; Ouborg et al 2006; Walisch et al 2012)
A prevailing assumption has long been that sexual recruitment is rare in clonal plants implying low genetic diversity, but an increasing number of studies indicate that populations of clonal plants may maintain considerable amounts of genetic diversity (Holderegger et al 1998; Bengtsson 2003; Pluess and Stocklin 2004)
Summary
Nutrient-poor grasslands in lowland areas have been strongly fragmented during the last decades due to changes in land-use, nutrient enrichment through fertilizers or the cessation of traditional agricultural practices (Ratcliffe 1984; Bignal and McCracken 1996). Fischer and Matthies 1998; Kery et al 2000; Colling and Matthies 2006) These populations face an increased risk of extinction because of their higher sensitivity to environmental, demographic and genetic stochasticity (Young et al 1996; Matthies et al 2004). Small and isolated populations are threatened through a loss of genetic diversity due to genetic drift and reduced gene flow (Young et al 1996; Jacquemyn et al 2009), because the loss of genetic variation and increased inbreeding are expected to lead to lower fitness of individual plants and a reduced ability of the populations to respond to environmental changes (Kery and Matthies 2004; Ouborg et al 2006; Walisch et al 2012)
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
