Pacific Southwest

Title: Genetic structure of populations and differentiation in forest trees

Author: Guries ,Raymond P.; Ledig, F. Thomas

Date: 1981

Source: Gen. Tech. Rep. PSW-GTR-48. Berkeley, CA: Pacific Southwest Forest and Range Exp. Stn, Forest Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture: p. 42-47

Station ID: GTR-PSW-048

Description: Electrophoretic techniques permit population biologists to analyze genetic structure of natural populations by using large numbers of allozyme loci. Several methods of analysis have been applied to allozyme data, including chi-square contingency tests, F-statistics, and genetic distance. This paper compares such statistics for pitch pine (Pinus rigida Mill.) with those gathered for other plants and animals. On the basis of these comparisons, we conclude that pitch pine shows significant differentiation across its range, but appears to be less differentiated than many other organisms. Data for other forest trees indicate that they, in general, conform to the pitch pine model. An open breeding system and a long life cycle probably are responsible for the limited differentiation observed in forest trees. These conclusions pertain only to variation at allozyme loci, a class that may be predominantly neutral with respect to adaptation, although gene frequencies for some loci were correlated with climatic variables.

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Citation

Guries ,Raymond P.; Ledig, F. Thomas  1981.  Genetic structure of populations and differentiation in forest trees .   Gen. Tech. Rep. PSW-GTR-48. Berkeley, CA: Pacific Southwest Forest and Range Exp. Stn, Forest Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture: p. 42-47.