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Estimating population boundaries using regional and local-scale spatial genetic structure: an example in Eucalyptus globulus

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Abstract

Eucalyptus globulus Labill is a foundation tree species over its disjunct distribution in southeastern Australia. The quality of its pulp makes it the most important hardwood species in the world. The importance of E. globulus prompted the establishment of common gardens from seed collected across its geographic range. This enabled us to study the genetic structure of the species, its population boundaries, and gene flow using 444 trees from different open-pollinated families that were genotyped at 16 microsatellite loci. A Bayesian clustering method was used to resolve five genetically distinct groups across the geographical range. These groups were identified as regions, which varied in diameter from 38 to 294 km and contain 4 to 16 putative populations. For two of these regional groups, we used spatial autocorrelation analysis based on assignment of trees to their natural stands to examine gene flow within each region. Consistent significant local-scale spatial structure occurred in both regions. Pairs of individuals within a region showed significant genetic similarity that extended beyond 40 km, suggesting distant movement of pollen. This suggests that breeding populations in E. globulus are much bigger than traditionally accepted in eucalypts. Our results are important for the management of genetic diversity and breeding populations in E. globulus. Similar studies of a variety of eucalypts pollinated by insects and birds will determine whether the local-scale genetic structure of E. globulus is unusual.

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Acknowledgements

The field collections of E. globulus were done jointly with CSIRO Forest Biosciences. We thank Gunns Pty Ltd. for access to the field trial of E. globulus. The work was supported by a grant (LP667708) from the Australian Research Council (ARC) to WJF. We gratefully acknowledge financial support of Oji Paper Company Ltd and Forests NSW. We are grateful to Professor Rod Peakall and Dr. Simon Ho for their invaluable advice and for reviewing the manuscript. Many thanks to Dr. Rose Andrew for her help in revising the manuscript. We thank the anonymous reviewers and the associate editor for their valuable comments which have greatly improved the manuscript. The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Evolution, Ecology and Genetics, Research School of Biology, ANU College of Medicine, Biology and Environment, The Australian National University, Building 116, Canberra, ACT 0200, Australia

    Suat Hui Yeoh, William J. Foley, Ian R. Wallis & Gavin F. Moran

  2. Institute of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, University of Malaya, Lembah Pantai, 50603, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

    Suat Hui Yeoh

  3. CSIRO Plant Industry, GPO Box 1600, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia

    J. Charlie Bell

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  1. Suat Hui Yeoh
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  2. J. Charlie Bell
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Correspondence to Suat Hui Yeoh.

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Communicated by S. Aitken

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Yeoh, S.H., Bell, J.C., Foley, W.J. et al. Estimating population boundaries using regional and local-scale spatial genetic structure: an example in Eucalyptus globulus . Tree Genetics & Genomes 8, 695–708 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11295-011-0457-4

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