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Fine-scale gene flow and genetic structure in a relic Ulmus laevis population at its northern range

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Abstract

Ulmus laevis is mainly distributed in Central and Eastern Europe. The present study took place in Southern Denmark, which together with southern Sweden and Finland, is the Northern range of the species distribution area. The study site (Krenkerup Haveskov) is the only presumed natural continuous population of U. laevis in Denmark. The forest is a part of a formerly larger carr forest. Scattered trees (U. laevis) are found in nearby woods. With seven polymorphic microsatellite loci, we revealed a fairly low genetic diversity in the parental generation with 2–7 alleles per locus and average gene diversity (He) = 0.5. There were no signs of a recent population decrease in U. laevis from Denmark. In contrast, the only known larger population of U. laevis from the Netherlands showed significant genetic signals of a recent bottleneck. The outcrossing rate was not significantly different from 1, indicating absence of self-pollination. Gene flow was found between the continuous population and trees in the nearby woods. We found significant spatial genetic structure which may be due to short dispersal distances of the winged fruits of U. laevis. Due to the low genetic diversity, the strong spatial genetic structure and the outcrossing nature of the species, it may be especially vulnerable to size reductions.

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Acknowledgements

We kindly thank the Villum Kann-Rasmussen foundation and Godfred Birkedal Hartmanns Familiefond for financial support. Peter Friis Møller provided valuable help in identifying the native Danish U. laevis population. Patrick Reventlow-Grinling is thanked for allowing us to work in Krenkerup Haveskov. Viggo Jensen and Lars Nørgaard Hansen are acknowledged for valuable technical assistance. The staff at the Arboretum, Ole Byrgesen and Kristian Stousgaard Jakobsen, in particular, is thanked for competent help with germinating and growing the offspring of U. laevis. Ole Kim Hansen is thanked for technical advice during the laboratory work. Joukje Buiteveld is thanked for providing us with DNA samples from the Netherlands, for describing the population and for valuable inputs to the paper. Hans R. Siegismund is thanked for valuable comments on the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Forest & Landscape Denmark, Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Hørsholm Kongevej 11, 2970, Hørsholm, Denmark

    Lene R. Nielsen & Erik D. Kjær

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  1. Lene R. Nielsen
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  2. Erik D. Kjær
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Correspondence to Lene R. Nielsen.

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Communicated by O. Savolainen

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Table 1

Allele frequencies at seven loci in parental (P) and offspring (O) generations of U. laevis from Denmark (forest and group) and The Netherlands. n = sample size (DOC 62 kb)

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Nielsen, L.R., Kjær, E.D. Fine-scale gene flow and genetic structure in a relic Ulmus laevis population at its northern range. Tree Genetics & Genomes 6, 643–649 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11295-010-0280-3

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