Est-ssrs developed for other picea species amplify in picea omorika and reveal high genetic variation in two natural populations

Picea omorika (Pane.) Purk. is a relict and an endemic species found exclusively in the Balkan, within an area of ca. 10 000 km(2). Marker-based genetic diversity data in this conifer are very limited and partially contradictory. Therefore, twelve nuclear markers (ten EST-SSRs and two genomic SSRs) were tested for cross-species amplification in P. omorika. Five EST-SSRs amplified successfully and a very high number of alleles per locus was found in 50 trees originating from two natural populations (7 to 18 alleles per locus), with a total of 61 alleles. Furthermore, a high number of private alleles were detected - 13 and 14 per population, respectively. Rare alleles, i.e., alleles whose frequency was lower than 0.05, were not observed. Markers were selectively neutral, no linkage disequilibrium was detected and the genotype frequencies fitted Hardy-Weinberg proportions. Expected heterozygosity per locus ranged from 0.64 to 0.91 in both populations, with an overall mean of 0.83. Considering the small remnant population sizes of P. omorika, these values are unexpectedly high and comparable to values in P. glauca (Moench) Voss., P. sitchensis (Bong.) Carr. and P. mariana (Mill.) B.S.P. detected with an identical set of markers in samples of similar sizes

Adaptive genetic diversity of trees for forest conservation in a future climate: a case study on Norway spruce in Austria

International audienceGenetic resources of forest trees are considered as a key factor for the persistence of forest ecosystems because the ability of tree species to survive under changing climate depends strongly on their intraspecific variation in climate response. Therefore, utilizing available genetic variation in climate response and planting alternative provenances suitable for future climatic conditions is considered as an important adaptation measure for forestry. On the other hand, the distribution of adaptive genetic diversity of many tree species is still unknown and the predicted shift of ecological zones and species’ distribution may threaten forest genetic resources that are important for adaptation. Here, we use Norway spruce in Austria as a case study to demonstrate the genetic variation in climate response and to analyse the existing network of genetic conservation units for its effectiveness to safeguard the hotspots of adaptive and neutral genetic diversity of this species. An analysis of the climate response of 480 provenances, clustered into 9 groups of climatically similar provenances, revealed high variation among provenance groups