Due to complex history of European forests, natural populations may not necessarily represent autochthonous genepools for forest trees. Eastern Prussian forests were famous for using non-local sources for afforestation. We studied efficiency of a set of nuclear microsatellite markers (nSSR) for genetic association and diversity studies of 194 adult trees from 5 populations genotyped at 11 nSSR loci. The Bayesian and UPGMA clustering revealed two genetically distinct groups: (a) the Baltic group, and (b) the Bavarian one and an over 200-years-old sea-side Lithuanian population of Juodkrante from the sea-side Curonian spit of Neringa. We interpret this result as putative introduction of Bavarian Scots pine back in the 18th century, when reforestation efforts were made to sustain moving sands in the dunes of Neringa. The genomic SSRs were more variable than the EST SSRs. However, the association between the variability of the nuclear microsatellite loci and their efficiency in detecting population differentiation was not strong. Keywords: nSSR, Pinus sylvestris (L.), population structure, provenance transfer, FRM transfer, molecular markers

In the scientific literature, the financial autonomy (FA) of rural municipalities has been referred to as a complex and dynamic phenomenon. Its manifestation has been claimed to depend on a variety of externalities and internalities of the local government. Rural municipalities occupy a significant share of the geographical space of the European Union and are very diverse. Hence, the manifestation of autonomy of the local government and possibilities for improvement of the FA in the rural areas are specific for each country and are characterised by their diversity and complexity. The issue of improvement of the FA has become of particularly topical interest in the context of regional and rural development in recent years. It has become increasingly relevant in autonomous and sustainable decision-making and implementation by the local governments as well as in the search for sustainable financial resources in spatial terms. Research aim: to develop the recommendations on improvement of the FA of the rural municipalities in Lithuania in the context of the key endogenous factors identified. The article presents the empirical research findings obtained as a result of an assessment of the FA of 36 rural municipalities in Lithuania under the multi-criteria decision analysis method TOPSIS. The restraining and driving endogenous factors of the FA of the rural municipalities were analysed by applying the Moran’s I statistic method. Global Moran’s I statistic and Cluster and Outlier Analysis (Anselin Local Moran's I) were used to check for global and local patterns in the distribution of the FA of Lithuanian municipalities and related factors. The research findings have demonstrated low or medium low the FA of rural municipalities in Lithuania. The result has been determined by the rapidly deteriorating demographic situation, restraining social factors, and contrasting economic environment observed in rural areas of Lithuania during the recent 11 years. The spatial autocorrelation models enabled the identification of the rural municipality clusters characterized by insufficient economic development and concentrated in the western and southern regions of the country. The spatial modelling-based assessment of the endogenous factors and using the tree-based regression model technique has shown the possibilities for improvement of the FA of rural municipalities of Lithuania. JEL Classification H72, R11, R15.