title: Leaf n-alkanes as characters differentiating coastal and continental Juniperus deltoides populations from the Balkan Peninsula.
abstract: The composition of the cuticular n-alkanes isolated from the leaves of nine populations of Juniperus deltoides R.P.Adams from continental and coastal areas of the Balkan Peninsula was characterized by GC-FID and GC/MS analyses. In the leaf waxes, 14 n-alkane homologues with chain-lengths ranging from C22 to C35 were identified. n-Tritriacontane (C33 ) was dominant in the waxes of all populations, but variations between the populations in the contents of all n-alkanes were observed. Several statistical methods (ANOVA, principal component, discriminant, and cluster analyses) were used to investigate the diversity and variability of the cuticular-leaf-n-alkane patterns of the nine J. deltoides populations. This is the first report on the n-alkane composition for this species. The multivariate statistical analyses evidenced a high correlation of the leaf-n-alkane pattern with the geographical distribution of the investigated samples, differentiating the coastal from the continental populations of this taxon.
authors.affiliation: University of Belgrade, Faculty of Biology, Institute of Botany and Botanical Garden 'Jevremovac', Studentski trg 16, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia. nemanja@bio.bg.ac.rs.
authors.forename: Nemanja
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Rajčević
authors.forename: Pedja
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Janaćković
authors.forename: Tanja
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Dodoš
authors.forename: Vele
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Tešević
authors.forename: Srdjan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bojović
authors.forename: Petar D
authors.initials: PD
authors.lastname: Marin
mesh_terms: D000473:Alkanes / Q000032:analysis* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D063368:Balkan Peninsula; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D016002:Discriminant Analysis; D008401:Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry; D018653:Juniperus / Q000737:chemistry*; D018515:Plant Leaves / Q000737:chemistry*; D025341:Principal Component Analysis
chemical_list: D000473:Alkanes
keywords: Alkanes; Discriminant analysis; Hierarchical cluster analysis (CA); Juniperus deltoides; Principal component analysis (PCA)