title: Biogeographic variation of foliar n-alkanes of Juniperus communis var. saxatilis Pallas from the Balkans.
abstract: The composition of the epicuticular n-alkanes isolated from the leaves of ten populations of Juniperus communis L. var. saxatilis Pallas from central (continental) and western (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. All samples were dominated by n-tritriacontane (C33 ), but differences in two other dominant n-alkanes allowed separating the coastal from the continental populations. Several statistical methods (ANOVA, principal component, discriminant, and cluster analyses as well as the Mantel test) were deployed to analyze the diversity and variability of the epicuticular-leaf-n-alkane patterns of the ten natural populations of J. communis var. saxatilis and their relation to different geographic and bioclimatic parameters. Cluster analysis showed a high correlation of the leaf-n-alkane patterns with the geographical distribution of the investigated samples, differentiating the coastal from the continental populations of this taxon. Several bioclimatic parameters related to aridity were highly correlated with this differentiation.
authors.affiliation: University of Belgrade, Faculty of Biology, Institute of Botany and Botanical Garden 'Jevremovac', Studentski trg 16, RS-11000 Belgrade. 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: Petar D
authors.initials: PD
authors.lastname: Marin
mesh_terms: D000473:Alkanes / Q000737:chemistry*; D063368:Balkan Peninsula; D002849:Chromatography, Gas; D005843:Geography; D018653:Juniperus / Q000737:chemistry*; D013058:Mass Spectrometry; D018515:Plant Leaves / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D000473:Alkanes
keywords: Alkanes; Cluster Analysis (CA); Discriminant analysis (DA); Juniperus communis; Needle cuticular wax; Principal component analysis (PCA)