title: Genetic structure of colline and montane populations of an endangered plant species.
abstract: Due to land-use intensification, lowland and colline populations of many plants of nutrient-poor grasslands have been strongly fragmented in the last decades, with potentially negative consequences for their genetic diversity and persistence. Populations in mountains might represent a genetic reservoir for grassland plants, because they have been less affected by land-use changes. We studied the genetic structure and diversity of colline and montane Vosges populations of the threatened perennial plant Arnica montana in western central Europe using AFLP markers. Our results indicate that in contrast to our expectation even strongly fragmented colline populations of A. montana have conserved a considerable amount of genetic diversity. However, mean seed mass increased with the proportion of polymorphic loci, suggesting inbreeding effects in low diversity populations. At a similar small geographical scale there was a clear IBD pattern for the montane Vosges but not for the colline populations. However, there was a strong IBD-pattern for the colline populations at a large geographical scale suggesting that this pattern is a legacy of historical gene flow, as most of the colline populations are today strongly isolated from each other. Genetic differentiation between colline and montane Vosges populations was strong. Moreover, results of a genome scan study indicated differences in loci under selection, suggesting that plants from montane Vosges populations might be maladapted to conditions at colline sites. Our results suggest caution in using material from montane populations of rare plants for the reinforcement of small genetically depauperate lowland populations.
authors: Université de Lorraine, CNRS UMR 7360, Laboratoire Interdisciplinaire des Environnements Continentaux (LIEC), rue du Général Delestraint, 57070 Metz, France Musée National d'Histoire Naturelle, Population Biology and Evolution, 25 rue Münster L-2160 Luxembourg, Luxembourg. Fondation Faune Flore, 24 rue Münster L-2160 Luxembourg.
authors: Tiphaine
authors: T
authors: Maurice
authors: Philipps-Universität, Fachbereich Biologie, Pflanzenökologie, D-35032 Marburg, Germany.
authors: Diethart
authors: D
authors: Matthies
authors: Université de Lorraine, CNRS UMR 7360, Laboratoire Interdisciplinaire des Environnements Continentaux (LIEC), rue du Général Delestraint, 57070 Metz, France Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle, UMR 7205 ISYEB, CNRS, Université Pierre-et-Marie-Curie, EPHE, Sorbonne Universités, CP 39, 16 rue Buffon, 75005 Paris, France.
authors: Serge
authors: S
authors: Muller
authors: Musée National d'Histoire Naturelle, Population Biology and Evolution, 25 rue Münster L-2160 Luxembourg, Luxembourg. guy.colling@mnhn.lu.
authors: Guy
authors: G
authors: Colling
keywords: AFLP; altitude; clonality; conservation genetics; fragmentation; genome scan