Phenotypic differentiation of Rhododendron ferrugineum populations in European mountains

Abstract

Rhododendron ferrugineum occurs in the mountains of the Central Europe with large disjunction in geographic range between Pyrenees and Alps and between Alps and Sudetes. We expect that these discon­tinuities in the species occurrence should involved their phenotypic differentiation, similar as described on the studies of molecular markers. The aim of the study was verification of phenotypic differences between the species populations from the Pyrenees, Alps and Sudetes. We examined characters of leaves and capsules from 13 populations, each represented by 25–30 individu­als, using ANOVA, discrimination analysis, principal components analysis and agglomeration on the closest Euclidean distances. Every from examined characters of leaves and capsules except of apex angle of a capsule valve and capsule valve shape differentiated between populations at P≤0.001. Despite, range of character variation differen­tiating even at the highest level overlapped between populations. The analysis of discrimination, principal component analysis and agglomeration gave similar results indicating differences between populations from Pyrenees, Alps and Sudetes. However, the differences between individuals did not allow distinguish regions. The morphological characteristics of the leaves and capsules allowed to distinguish among populations of R. ferrugineum from the Pyrenees, Alps and Sudetes, and the pattern of their phenotypic differentiation was similar to that described based on genetic markers. The relict population from the Sudetes is phenotypi­cally more similar to the populations from the Pyrenees and the Western Alps than to the spatially closest populations from the Eastern Alps.

Discrepancies and Evaluation of Needle-Leaf and Tracheid Traits of Qinhai Spruce in Qilian Mountains, Northwest China

“…The majority of the needle-leaf traits exhibited significant and highly significant correlation levels with one another, with correlation coefficients ranging from −0.69 to 0.95. The considerable disparity in conifer traits observed among the ten provenances of Qinghai spruce, along with the notable and highly significant correlation between the majority of these traits, may be attributed to the fact that the ten provenances of Qinghai spruce in this study spanned a large geographic distribution area, and the environmental heterogeneity within the distribution area resulted in a high degree of variation among the provenances [42][43][44]. This variation is not solely a consequence of genetic diversity but is also influenced by the combined effects of long-term geographic isolation, restricted gene exchange, and changes in geographic and environmental factors [45,46].…”

The Perspective of Arctic–Alpine Species in Southernmost Localities: The Example of Kalmia procumbens in the Pyrenees and Carpathians

“…Gene exchange in Ericaceae is limited due to the low rate of seed dispersal [72] and restricted pollen transport, especially between populations from distant mountain chains [73]. These limitations explain the genetic and morphological differences, as described for other subalpine/alpine plant species, such as Salix herbacea L. [74], Ranunculus glacialis L. [75], Saxifraga oppositifolia L. [76], Soldanella alpina L. [77] and Rhododendron ferrugineum L. [78,79], and even provide a reason for speciation, as in the case of Rhododendron ferrugineum and R. myrtifolim Schott & Kotschy [80].…”