Projected Range Contractions of European Protected Oceanic Montane Plant Communities: Focus on Climate Change Impacts Is Essential for Their Future Conservation

Global climate is rapidly changing and while many studies have investigated the potential impacts of this on the distribution of montane plant species and communities, few have focused on those with oceanic montane affinities. In Europe, highly sensitive bryophyte species reach their optimum occurrence, highest diversity and abundance in the northwest hyperoceanic regions, while a number of montane vascular plant species occur here at the edge of their range. This study evaluates the potential impact of climate change on the distribution of these species and assesses the implications for EU Habitats Directive-protected oceanic montane plant communities. We applied an ensemble of species distribution modelling techniques, using atlas data of 30 vascular plant and bryophyte species, to calculate range changes under projected future climate change. The future effectiveness of the protected area network to conserve these species was evaluated using gap analysis. We found that the majority of these montane species are projected to lose suitable climate space, primarily at lower altitudes, or that areas of suitable climate will principally shift northwards. In particular, rare oceanic montane bryophytes have poor dispersal capacity and are likely to be especially vulnerable to contractions in their current climate space. Significantly different projected range change responses were found between 1) oceanic montane bryophytes and vascular plants; 2) species belonging to different montane plant communities; 3) species categorised according to different biomes and eastern limit classifications. The inclusion of topographical variables in addition to climate, significantly improved the statistical and spatial performance of models. The current protected area network is projected to become less effective, especially for specialised arctic-montane species, posing a challenge to conserving oceanic montane plant communities. Conservation management plans need significantly greater focus on potential climate change impacts, including models with higher-resolution species distribution and environmental data, to aid these communities’ long-term survival

New taxon of the genus Calypogeia (Jungermanniales, Hepaticae) in Poland

Genetic differentiation of Calypogeia muelleriana s.l. was studied using isozyme analysis. Two forms of this species: typical and atypical were reported from Poland. The 10 putative loci in 7 enzyme systems were analyzed in 58 samples: 34 of the typical and 15 of atypical form. The isozyme studies revealed that the typical and atypical forms of C. muelleriana in Poland are clearly genetically different. Typical plants morphologically correspond to the type specimen of C. muelleriana, but atypical form is a new, genetically distinct but unrecognized so far taxon. Each group is defined by several fixed alleles present in all populations. The UPGMA dendrogram based on Nei’s genetic distances shows that both taxa (C. muelleriana and the newly detected taxon) clearly differ from C. azurea – the species used as a reference group. Genetic distance among two groups of C. muelleriana (D = 1.093) was almost the same as among C. azurea and the newly detected taxon (D = 1.060). Genetic distance among C. azurea and the typical form of C. muelleriana was the lowest (D = 0.628)

Isoenzyme markers of two hepatic species: Barbilophozia lycopodioides [Wallr.] Loeske, and B. hatcheri [A. Evans] Loeske

Two closely related species of the genus Barbilophozia: B. lycopodioides and B. hatcheri were studied in populations from the Tatra Range (S Poland), where they are frequent and widely distributed. Both species play an important role in plant communities and grow here very often side by side. Typically developed plants are quite easy to distinguish (even in the field), however morphologically intermediate forms, difficult to recognize by using of classical taxonomic methods, sometimes are found. We found enzymatic markers, that allow to recognize the critical forms. Both studied species are different in enzymatic patterns of glutamate oxaloacetate transaminase (GOT) and peroxidases (PX). In GOT four different phenotypes were detected. The first two (GOT 1 and GOT 2) were characteristic for B. hatcheri and next two (GOT 3 and GOT 4) for B. lycopodioides. Peroxidase patterns, that were monomorphic and specific for each species, exhibit different mobility in anodal and cathodal parts of gel. Results of the studies allowed us to draw the conclusion, that PX and GOT are good isoenzymatic markers and they can have practical application for identification of Barbilophozia species

Genetic variation of silver fir progeny from Tisovik Reserve population determined via microsatellite and isozyme markers

Progeny from 19 family lines of silver fir (Abies alba Mill.) from a small, native and isolated population from the Tisovik Reserve (Belarusian part of Białowieża Primeval Forest) growing in an experimental plot near Hajnówka (Polish part of Białowieża Primeval Forest) were analysed in terms of 4 nuclear microsatellite DNA loci and 9 isozyme systems with 14 loci. The aim of this study was to determine the genetic variation within and between progeny lines. Analysis of isozyme loci showed that all progeny lines, except the progeny lines T6 and T16, were characterised by an excess of heterozygotes and 20% of the detected variation occurred between progeny. Progeny formed two groups. Microsatellite loci showed that 6 progeny lines demonstrated an excess of heterozygotes and 12 an excess of homozygotes. On an average, the population was in the Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium. Analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) showed that 14% of the detected variation occurred between offspring and the remaining 86% within progeny lines. The most distinct progeny line was T1, where the highest number of alleles per locus was detected. Generally, progeny of Tisovik is characterised by high level of differentiation as the offspring of isolated population that have limited number of individuals to crossing (only 20). In some progeny line, the private alleles that are detected may be the result of pollination from Polish part of Białowieża Forest where in 1920s and 1930s of XX century had planted the seedling of silver fir of unknown origin. The substructuring of population is observed, and the detected deficiency of heterozygotes may be ostensible as a result of the Wahlund effect. Such pattern of genetic structure could also be an effect of harsh environmental conditions exerting selection pressure and modifying the genetic composition of this population

Genetic differentiation among geographically close populations of Malva alcea

We estimated similarity and differences at the level of isozymes among populations of Malva alcea from various habitats and parts of Central Europe. Our analyses revealed the activity of 8 enzyme systems: 6 polymorphic (PGI, IDH, PX, DIA, PGM, SHD KB) and 2 monomorphic (GOT, ME). The mean number of alleles per locus is 2.12. Nei's genetic distances among populations are small, not exceeding 0.3. Mean values of Nei's genetic simi-larity are typical of populations of the same species. Grouping by UPGMA based on Nei's genetic distances showed that the distinguished groups are only partly correlated with geographic region

Species-specific chloroplast DNA polymorphism in the trnV-rbcL region in Pinus sylvestris and P. mugo

Four cpDNA regions were analyzed with the use of PCR-RFLP technique and nucleotide sequences of two mtDNA regions were characterized in order to find P. sylvestris and P. mugo species specific markers useful for studies of the species hybridization. The difference in the restriction fragment patterns of trnV-rbcL region after digestion with MvaI endonuclease was detected. The analyses of the species representatives from various geographic regions revealed that the observed polymorphism is species specific. No differences have been disclosed in the analyzed trnS-trnT, trnK1-trnK2, trnC-trnD cpDNA regions. The P. sylvestris and P.mugo mtDNA sequences of orf25 and coxI regions proved to be identical