Primula farinosa in Denmark; genetic diversity and population management

Abstract

During the past centuries Danish populations of Primula farinosa have seriously declined in number. We investigated the genetic structure and genetic diversity of plants of seven populations from two diff erent regions, Zealand and Bornholm in Denmark, using three AFLP markers. Two populations from nearby Scania, Sweden were included as reference. We found 54 unambiguously polymorphic loci. Th e genetic structure analysis suggested division of the 268 plants into three distinct groups, to a large extent matching the geographical distribution of the populations. Analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) indicated signifi cant genetic diff erentiation of 67% within populations and 33% among the populations. Our results suggest that genetic diff erentiation among regions and unique local genetic diversity should carefully be considered in future conservation attempts if we are to maintain as much genetic variation as possible. We present a historical overview of the decline in Danish populations and discuss conservation management and restoration strategies.

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

“…The overall genetic pattern of our populations is similar to those observed in other studies: most of the observed genetic variation occurred within populations, a situation expected for an outcrossing species. Our between-population and within-population variation proportions, 18.53% and 81.47%, respectively, very closely matched the results of Reisch et al [34] (20.59% and 79.41%, respectively) for populations located near Obersdorf (northern calcareous Alps, Germany) and were only slightly different from those of Sørensen et al [35] (33% and 67%, respectively) obtained for populations collected throughout Denmark. Similar results were obtained for other Primula species: P. apennina [37] and P. veris [38].…”

“…Plant competition along with anthropogenic pressure, particularly drainage of wetlands, are most probably responsible for the recent disappearance of Polish lowland populations of P. farinosa and its gradual decrease in most European countries [11,[32][33][34][35]. Today, the range of P. farinosa is highly fragmented and restricted to wet open microhabitats such as calcareous mountain marsh [36].…”