Abstract
In the cold periods of Quaternary climatic fluctuations, many temperate species underwent severe range contractions, and their survival during these periods was associated with climatically more favorable regions, so-called glacial refugia, from which subsequent range expansions took place. In this regard, the relative roles of the Southern (“main”), Northern (i.e., cryptic northern), and Eastern European (e.g., Colchis) refugia in shaping the evolutionary history of European temperate plants should be evaluated. In this study, we investigated the phylogeographic structure of <em>Primula vulgaris</em>, a European mesophilous species, by comparing DNA sequences derived from the nuclear (nrITS) and the plastid (<em>trn</em>L-<em>trn</em>F and <em>rpl</em>32-<em>trn</em>L) genomes of specimens covering the entire distribution range of the species. The variability in flower morphology was also studied on an area-wide scale with geometric morphometry. Our results clearly show the importance of the northern and eastern refugia (the Carpathian Basin and Colchis) as sources of genetic variation among European mesophilous plant species. <em>Primula vulgaris </em>spread initially from the Colchis refugium westwards, and a proportion of the colonists survived during the last glacial period in the Carpathian Basin, which may have served as a secondary center of diversity from which all Europe was subsequently populated.
Highlights
In the cold periods of Quaternary climatic fluctuations, many temperate species underwent severe contractions in distribution range, and their survival during these periods was associated with climatically more favorable regions, so-called glacial refugia, from which subsequent range expansions took place (Hewitt, 2004)
We found that populations from the Hyrcanian region (Hyr) differed significantly from most of the populations in the Carpathian Basin, but not from the Caucasian or Western European populations
P. vulgaris appears to have initially spread westwards from the Colchis refugium, and subsequently during periods of glaciation, a proportion of the colonists survived in the Carpathian Basin, which served as a secondary center of diversity from which the entire European region was populated
Summary
In the cold periods of Quaternary climatic fluctuations, many temperate species underwent severe contractions in distribution range, and their survival during these periods was associated with climatically more favorable regions, so-called glacial refugia, from which subsequent range expansions took place (Hewitt, 2004). These refugia played a crucial role in shaping the current genetic variation among present-day biota (Taberlet et al, 1998). There have been comparatively few studies that have assessed the role of these eastern regions in shaping the evolutionary history of European plants using modern approaches.
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