Dynamic conservation of Picea omorika populations in the republic of Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina

Abstract

Serbian spruce Picea omorika (Panč.) Purk. is a rare, IUCN red-listed European conifer endemic to the refugial Balkan region. Current rigid conservation (without any intervention allowed) and designation of seven Genetic Conservation Units (GCUs) included into pan-European network for dynamic conservation of forest genetic resources (four natural populations and three planted stands) are not based on genetic data. We carried out a comprehensive field survey in the Republic of Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina (RS-BH), and genotyped 689 individuals from 14 populations with ten highly informative nuclear EST-SSRs. Seed sources for the re-establishment of populations at sites fully burned over the past 100 years, were identified and we applied analytical methods for prioritizing populations for conservation based on their contribution to the geographical structuring of genetic diversity. The levels of genetic diversity of studied Serbian spruce populations (Ae= 2.524, HO=0.465, HE=0.451) are slightly lower than those found in eastern populations analysed previously with the same molecular markers, and effective population size is generally ≥15. Populations are highly genetically differentiated [Hedrick’s G’ST=0.186 (± 0.044); Jost’s D=0.097 (±0.040)] and comprise ten distinct gene pools. Although wildfires contribute to admixture of gene pools within populations, re-establishment from seeds from extirpated populations has likely prevailed. As much as 14% of alleles are not preserved in the extant network of four GCUs (natural populations only) which does not include eastern, genetically distinct and more diverse populations. Seven populations positively contribute to within-population genetic diversity, four to genetic differentiation, and two are globally important in terms of diversity and differentiation. The high conservation value of two populations was not evident from nuclear but from available knowledge on mitochondrial diversity.Abstracts of the 6th CONGRESS OF THE SERBIAN GENETIC SOCIETY Vrnjačka Banja; October 13 to 17, 2019