Líffræðifélag Íslands - biologia.is
Líffræðiráðstefnan 2023
Höfundar / Authors: Snæbjörn Pálsson (1), Pawel Wasowics (2), Starri Heiðmarsson (3), Kristinn Pétur Magnússon (2,4)
Starfsvettvangur / Affiliations: 1. Faculty of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Iceland, 2. The Icelandic Institute of Natural History, 3. Northwest Iceland Nature Research Centre, 4. Faculty of Natural Resource Sciences, University of Akureyri
Kynnir / Presenter: Snæbjörn Pálsson
Genetic variation in forest trees is often characterized by high variation within sites and a lack of geographic patterns among areas. Large populations and extensive gene flow over large geographic distances by seeds or pollen have explained this. Mountain birch (Betula pubescens) is Iceland's only natural forest-forming tree. Since human settlement (874 AD), the continuous 25,000 to 30,000 km2 forest has shrunk to 1.200 km2 of fragmented patches. This study assessed the genetic variation within and among 11 birch forests sites across Iceland. Genotype-by-sequencing methodology provided 24,585 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP’s), with a minor allele frequency >5% for genetic analyses. The analysis showed similar diversity within forests, suggesting that fragmentation has had a limited effect on the genetic variation within sites. A clear genetic divergence is found among forests from the different regions of Iceland that may reflect historical isolation; the differentiation between forests increased with geographic distances reflecting isolation by distance. Information on the distribution of genetic variation of birch in Iceland is essential for its conservation and to establish genotype–phenotype associations to predict responses to new environmental conditions imposed by climate change and novel biotic/abiotic stressors.