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The effect of volcanism on postglacial migration and seed dispersal. A case study in southern South America

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Abstract

During the Quaternary, southern South American temperate forests were confined to small and isolated refugia. Recolonization could be related not only with location of refugia but also with postglacial phenomena like volcanism, which could have interrupted the expansion of the forests. The aim of this study was to analyze the local effect of volcanism during the postglacial migration of Nothofagus nervosa in a particular region of Argentina were convergence of two migratory routes was suggested. The main question is whether admixture occurred or not and if the current populations are connected by pollen or seed gene flow. Two populations separated by a 3-km-width lava flow were sampled. Buds from 30 individuals of each of the two populations and from a total of 142 juveniles were analyzed. Genetic variation was detected through maternally inherited chloroplast deoxyribonucleic acid (cpDNA; polymerase chain reaction restriction fragment length polymorphisms of two fragments) and nuclear markers like isozymes (six loci) and simple sequence repeats (three loci). Population genetic parameters were estimated and the existence of a genetic structure was tested with an analysis of molecular variance. Historical gene flow was estimated through the indirect method of the genetic differentiation (F ST). Chloroplast DNA revealed a total genetic differentiation between the two populations indicating completely isolation respecting seed gene flow. On the contrary, the degree of genetic differentiation for the nuclear markers was significantly lower, and moderate levels of historical gene flow through pollen were inferred. The results suggest that in this area, volcanism has played an important local role during the expansion of N. nervosa maintaining these two populations separated.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank the Ranger L. Pussetto for field assistance, G. Villarrosa for helpful discussions and information on volcanism, and C. Lopez for providing the aerial photograph. We are also grateful to A. Kremer for comments on our manuscript. This work was financed by the British Ecological Society (Small Grant N 2258 to PM). Sampling within National Park Lanín was possible because of the cooperation project between National Parks Administration and INTA EEA Bariloche through the project “Genetic variation in Nothofagus nervosa and N. obliquea.” Analyses in the ABI 3700 sequencer (Applied Biosystems) were done in the frame of the project “Proyecto Estructurante de Biotecnología y Recursos Genéticos de INTA” (590.001). P Marchelli is a researcher from CONICET.

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  1. Forest Genetic Unit, INTA EEA Bariloche, CC 277, 8400, Bariloche, Argentina

    Matías Millerón, Leonardo Gallo & Paula Marchelli

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  1. Matías Millerón
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  2. Leonardo Gallo
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  3. Paula Marchelli
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Correspondence to Paula Marchelli.

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Communicated by A. Kremer

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Millerón, M., Gallo, L. & Marchelli, P. The effect of volcanism on postglacial migration and seed dispersal. A case study in southern South America. Tree Genetics & Genomes 4, 435–443 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11295-007-0121-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11295-007-0121-1

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