PARENT SESSION
Oral Session #92: Conservation Ecology: Genetics, population viability, interactions.
Presiding: W. Wirtz
Thursday, August 8. 1:00 PM to 3:45 PM. Grand Ballroom West, Radisson.
Genetic variation among and within populations of Gentiana pneumonanthe, endangered species of European flora .
Krenova, Zdenka*,1, Harastova, Milena2, 1 University of South Bohemia, Faculty of Biological Sciences, Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic2 University of South Bohemia, Agriculture Faculty, Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic
ABSTRACT- Population genetics and fitness of Gentiana pneumonanthe populations were studied in a Military Training Area (MTA) in south part of the Czech Republic, where twelve populations of the species form a metapopulation in area of several square kilometres. Gentiana pneumonanthe occurs on wet oligotrophic meadows, which were abandoned fifty years ago, in time when the MTA was depopulated. The gentians could survive there because the meadows were not drained as most of the wet meadows outside of the MTA were, but species composition and microscale structure of abandoned meadows changed as a result of succession. During the 50 years, several populations of G. pneumonanthe went extinct and the population size of many of them rapidly decreased. However, there are still some surviving populations, and the probability of gene flow among them is high. Genetic variation among and within these populations were investigated using the Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA (RAPD) technique and protein electrophoresis. The genetic similarity of both individuals and populations are compared here with their distances.
KEY WORDS: Gentiana, metapopulation, population genetics, endangered species