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Genetic diversity in adult and seedling populations of Primula vulgaris in a fragmented agricultural landscape

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Abstract

Habitat fragmentation is known to generally reduce the size of plant populations and increase their isolation, leading to genetic erosion and increased between-population genetic differentiation. In Flanders (northern Belgium) Primula vulgaris is very rare and declining. Populations have incurred strong fragmentation for the last decades and are now restricted to a few highly fragmented areas in an intensively used agricultural landscape. Previous studies showed that small populations of this long-lived perennial herb still maintained high levels of genetic variation and low genetic differentiation. This pattern can either indicate recent gene flow or represent historical variation. Therefore, we used polymorphic microsatellite loci to investigate genetic variation and structure in adult (which may still reflect historical variation) and seedling (recent generation, thus affected by current processes) life stages. The recent generation (seedlings) showed a significant loss of observed heterozygosity (H o) together with lower expected heterozygosity (H e), a trend for higher inbreeding levels (F IS) and higher differentiation (F ST) between populations compared to the adult generation. This might result from (1) a reduction in effective population size, (2) higher inbreeding levels in the seedlings, (3) a higher survival of heterozygotes over time due to a higher fitness of heterozygotes (heterosis) and/or a lower fitness of homozygotes (inbreeding depression), (4) overlapping generations in the adult life stage, or (5) a lack of establishment of new (inbred) adults from seedlings due to degraded habitat conditions. Combining restoration of both habitat quality and gene flow between populations may be indispensable to ensure a sustainable conservation of fragmented populations.

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Acknowledgements

This study was funded by a PhD grant of the Institute for the Promotion of Innovation through Science and Technology in Flanders (IWT Vlaanderen), the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (OZR Funding) and the Fund for Scientific Research Flanders (Belgium) with contract no. 1.5.124.03. We thank S. Fénart, K. Van Puyvelde, the editor and two anonymous referees for helpful comments on M. Roels, the manuscript.

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  1. Fabienne Van Rossum

    Present address: Department of Vascular Plants, National Botanic Garden of Belgium, Domein van Bouchout, Meise, 1860, Belgium

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  1. Plant Biology and Nature Management, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Pleinlaan 2, Brussels, 1050, Belgium

    Anja Van Geert, Fabienne Van Rossum & Ludwig Triest

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  1. Anja Van Geert
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Correspondence to Anja Van Geert.

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Van Geert, A., Van Rossum, F. & Triest, L. Genetic diversity in adult and seedling populations of Primula vulgaris in a fragmented agricultural landscape. Conserv Genet 9, 845–853 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10592-007-9409-9

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