Genetic Structure of Natural Populations of Black Locust (Robinia Pseudoacacia L.) at Coweeta, North Carolina. Chang, C., Bongarten, B., & Hamrick, J. 111(1):17–24.
Genetic Structure of Natural Populations of Black Locust (Robinia Pseudoacacia L.) at Coweeta, North Carolina [link]Paper  doi  abstract   bibtex   
Natural population of black locust maintains very high levels of genetic diversity within populations without any noticeable geographic patterns. In order to assess the species' potential for manipulation through breeding programs, more detailed spatial pattern analyses of fine-scale population structure was attempted in the two study sites (watershed 2 and 21) in the Coweeta River Basin of southern Appalachian mountains using allozyme markers. Of the 200 and 420 plants examined in watershed 21 and 2 respectively, 13 and 15 major genotypes of clone were distinguished. Within watersheds 2 and 21, 60\,% of the pairwise clone combinations had three or four loci differences out of the 8 loci investigated. No correlation between distance between clones and the number of allele difference was found. The similarity values (16 highest and 0 lowest value) among clones for watershed 2 and 21 were 12.82 and 10.19 respectively. Typical distances between clones on both watershed 2 and 21 were from 90 and 190 m, but the range varied from several meters up to 300 m. An average distance among clones were 140.9±66.0 m and 239.4±108.6 m in watershed 2 and 21 respectively, whereas an average distance within clone was 38.7±36.2 m and 145.0±123.6 m in watershed 2 and 21. Genotype diversity indices (DG) for watershed 2 and 21 were 0.89 and 0.86 respectively. The largest clones on both watersheds covered more than 100 m×100 m. On the other hand, some clones on watershed 2, which had a few fallen trees with many young sprouts (up to 200 individuals), were 45 m×30 m in size under the open habitat. Although clonal substructure and limited seed dispersal may cause near neighbor mating interaction, significant genetic patchiness among clones of black locust was not evident. Although the first establishment of a black locust population would have relied on an off-site seed source, it is more likely that asexual reproduction has occurred for many generations in these black locust populations because of the presence of many different sizes of trees (or ages) in one clone despite widespread opportunities for sexual reproduction. Presence of three or four different sizes of trees within a clone implies that the trees has developed from a clone at each different time. The current study suggested that the amount of sexual reproduction and dispersal rate (especially seed dispersal) should be determined. It would be useful to examine whether or not clonal strategies and patterns of clonal growth of black locust are influenced by density dependent regulation of ramet recruitment and death.
@article{changGeneticStructureNatural1998,
  title = {Genetic Structure of Natural Populations of Black Locust ({{Robinia}} Pseudoacacia {{L}}.) at {{Coweeta}}, {{North Carolina}}},
  author = {Chang, Chin-Sung and Bongarten, Bruce and Hamrick, James},
  date = {1998},
  journaltitle = {Journal of Plant Research},
  volume = {111},
  pages = {17--24},
  doi = {10.1007/bf02507146},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1007/bf02507146},
  abstract = {Natural population of black locust maintains very high levels of genetic diversity within populations without any noticeable geographic patterns. In order to assess the species' potential for manipulation through breeding programs, more detailed spatial pattern analyses of fine-scale population structure was attempted in the two study sites (watershed 2 and 21) in the Coweeta River Basin of southern Appalachian mountains using allozyme markers. Of the 200 and 420 plants examined in watershed 21 and 2 respectively, 13 and 15 major genotypes of clone were distinguished. Within watersheds 2 and 21, 60\,\% of the pairwise clone combinations had three or four loci differences out of the 8 loci investigated. No correlation between distance between clones and the number of allele difference was found. The similarity values (16 highest and 0 lowest value) among clones for watershed 2 and 21 were 12.82 and 10.19 respectively. Typical distances between clones on both watershed 2 and 21 were from 90 and 190 m, but the range varied from several meters up to 300 m. An average distance among clones were 140.9±66.0 m and 239.4±108.6 m in watershed 2 and 21 respectively, whereas an average distance within clone was 38.7±36.2 m and 145.0±123.6 m in watershed 2 and 21. Genotype diversity indices (DG) for watershed 2 and 21 were 0.89 and 0.86 respectively. The largest clones on both watersheds covered more than 100 m×100 m. On the other hand, some clones on watershed 2, which had a few fallen trees with many young sprouts (up to 200 individuals), were 45 m×30 m in size under the open habitat. Although clonal substructure and limited seed dispersal may cause near neighbor mating interaction, significant genetic patchiness among clones of black locust was not evident. Although the first establishment of a black locust population would have relied on an off-site seed source, it is more likely that asexual reproduction has occurred for many generations in these black locust populations because of the presence of many different sizes of trees (or ages) in one clone despite widespread opportunities for sexual reproduction. Presence of three or four different sizes of trees within a clone implies that the trees has developed from a clone at each different time. The current study suggested that the amount of sexual reproduction and dispersal rate (especially seed dispersal) should be determined. It would be useful to examine whether or not clonal strategies and patterns of clonal growth of black locust are influenced by density dependent regulation of ramet recruitment and death.},
  keywords = {*imported-from-citeulike-INRMM,~INRMM-MiD:c-13798425,forest-resources,genetic-diversity,robinia-pseudoacacia,united-states},
  number = {1}
}

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