Provenance variations in stem productivity of 30-year-old Japanese larch trees planted in northern and central Japan are associated with climatic conditions in the provenances

<p>An association between provenance variations in growth performance of the Japanese larch (<i>Larix kaempferi</i>) and climatic conditions in the provenances has been found in the natural distributional range in central Japan. To verify whether this association differs in northern Japan, outside of the original habitats, we examined stem productivity of 30-year-old trees planted in three test sites in the Nagano Prefecture in central Japan and three test sites in the Hokkaido Prefecture in northern Japan. The trees originated from 25 provenances throughout the whole range of the natural distribution. Stem-productivity variances of interactions between the test sites and provenances were relatively small. Provenance correlations in the stem productivity among most of the tests sites were positive. Climatic conditions in the provenances and test sites were summarized as two indices: a gradient of warmth and drought (higher temperature and less precipitation at lower elevations) and a cline of climatic seasonality (from the northwestern to southeastern sides of the Japanese mainland, with decreasing and increasing seasonal variations in temperature and precipitation, respectively). The maximum stem productivity among the provenances was frequently observed at both extremities of the warmth/drought gradient and on the southeastern side of the climate-seasonality cline. These associations were detected in test sites in both central and northern Japan. These findings suggest similar provenance variations in growth performance of the Japanese larch among different growing environments in Japan.</p

Prunus lannesiana var. speciosa data

2cohorts_data.xls ...Genotype data in the GenAlEx format (for 2 cohorts data). | 8poplations_data.xls ...Genotype data in the GenAlEx format (for 8 populations data). | 3subpopulations_data.xls ...Genotype data in the GenAlEx format (for 3 subpopulations data). | PlotA_adults_seeds.csv ...Genotype data of parentage analysis in the Cervus format (for plot A). | PlotB_adults_seeds.csv ...Genotype data of parentage analysis in the Cervus format (for plot B). | plotA_2001.xls ...Data of various factors on mating success (plot A in 2001). | plotA_2002.xls ...Data of various factors on mating success (plot A in 2002). | plotB_2001.xls ...Data of various factors on mating success (plot B in 2001). | plotB_2002.xls ...Data of various factors on mating success (plot B in 2002). | plotA_sgs.txt ...SPAGeDi formatted data for spatial genetic structure analysis (for plot A). | plotB_sgs.txt ...SPAGeDi formatted data for spatial genetic structure analysis (for plot B)

Genetic Structure and Potential Environmental Determinants of Local Genetic Diversity in Japanese Honeybees (<i>Apis cerana japonica</i>)

<div><p>Declines in honeybee populations have been a recent concern. Although causes of the declines remain unclear, environmental factors may be responsible. We focused on the potential environmental determinants of local populations of wild honeybees, <i>Apis cerana japonica</i>, in Japan. This subspecies has little genetic variation in terms of its mitochondrial DNA sequences, and genetic variations at nuclear loci are as yet unknown. We estimated the genetic structure and environmental determinants of local genetic diversity in nuclear microsatellite genotypes of fathers and mothers, inferred from workers collected at 139 sites. The genotypes of fathers and mothers showed weak isolation by distance and negligible genetic structure. The local genetic diversity was high in central Japan, decreasing toward the peripheries, and depended on the climate and land use characteristics of the sites. The local genetic diversity decreased as the annual precipitation increased, and increased as the proportion of urban and paddy field areas increased. Positive effects of natural forest area, which have also been observed in terms of forager abundance in farms, were not detected with respect to the local genetic diversity. The findings suggest that <i>A</i>. <i>cerana japonica</i> forms a single population connected by gene flow in its main distributional range, and that climate and landscape properties potentially affect its local genetic diversity.</p></div

Genetic variation in father and mother populations inferred from <i>Apis cerana japonica</i> workers at each locus and at multiple loci.

<p>Genetic variation in father and mother populations inferred from <i>Apis cerana japonica</i> workers at each locus and at multiple loci.</p

Locations of sites (<i>numbers</i>) where <i>Apis cerana japonica</i> workers were collected.

<p>Borders (<i>broken lines</i>) between prefectures are shown.</p

Effects of environmental properties and of collection month on local genetic diversity in <i>Apis cerana japonica</i>.

<p>Environmental properties are longitude (a, b, c, d), annual precipitation (e, f, g, h), annual mean of the daily mean temperature (i, j, k, l), and paddy field (q, r, s, t) and urban areas (u, v, w, x) at the sites. Collection month (m, n, o, p) is also shown. Diversity and heterozygosity are plotted for the fathers at 139 sites and mothers at 63 sites. Predictions (<i>lines</i>) pertaining to diversity and heterozygosity were obtained from the explanatory variables in models with the lowest Akaike’s information criterion, when other explanatory variables are given as mean values.</p

Effects of environmental propertie and collection month on local genetic diversity in <i>Apis cerana japonica</i>.

<p>Coefficients for standardized explanatory variables estimated in a model with the lowest Akaike’s information criterion are shown.</p