<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">Black poplar (<italic>Populus nigra L.</italic>) is a keystone species of riparian softwood forests along riversides in vast areas of Europe, Western Asia and Northern Africa. Since the end of the 20th century, black poplar has been recognized as an endangered species throughout Europe due to the loss of its natural habitat and possible crossbreeding with hybrid poplars. Using twelve nuclear SSR loci, we analysed the genetic structure of four native populations from three river valleys in the northern part of Serbia. All tested loci were highly polymorphic, displaying 8 to 25 alleles per locus, overall 179 detected alleles and an average effective number of alleles 5.87. Observed heterozygosity (overall Ho = 0.703) has been lower than the expected (overall <italic>He</italic> = 0.808) in each population, which indicates positive mean of fixation index values (overall <italic>Fis</italic> > 0 (0.132)). An AMOVA analysis revealed that the highest degree of genetic variation occurred within populations (95.33 %) while the genetic variation between populations was really low (4.67 %). High gene flow and no significant loss of allelic diversity have been recorded in the studied populations in Serbia.</abstract>

Black poplar (Populus nigra L.) is a keystone species of riparian softwood forests along riversides in vast areas of Europe, Western Asia and Northern Africa. Since the end of the 20th century, black poplar has been recognized as an endangered species throughout Europe due to the loss of its natural habitat and possible crossbreeding with hybrid poplars. Using twelve nuclear SSR loci, we analysed the genetic structure of four native populations from three river valleys in the northern part of Serbia. All tested loci were highly polymorphic, displaying 8 to 25 alleles per locus, overall 179 detected alleles and an average effective number of alleles 5.87. Observed heterozygosity (overall Ho = 0.703) has been lower than the expected (overall He = 0.808) in each population, which indicates positive mean of fixation index values (overall Fis > 0 (0.132)). An AMOVA analysis revealed that the highest degree of genetic variation occurred within populations (95.33 %) while the genetic variation between populations was really low (4.67 %). High gene flow and no significant loss of allelic diversity have been recorded in the studied populations in Serbia.

Genetic structure of remnant black poplar (<italic>Populus nigra L.</italic>) populations along biggest rivers in Serbia assessed by SSR markers

Thünen-Institute (TI) of Forest Genetics

Instituto de Silvicultura e Industria de la Madera

Universidad Juárez del Estado de Durango

Silvae Genetica

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Genetic structure of remnant black poplar () populations along biggest rivers in Serbia assessed by SSR markers

Black poplar (Populus nigra L.) is a keystone species of riparian softwood forests along riversides in vast areas of Europe, Western Asia and Northern Africa....

Genetic structure of remnant black poplar (Populus nigra L.) populations along biggest rivers in Serbia assessed by SSR markers

Published Online: Jun 12, 2017

Page range: 12 - 19

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/sg-2016-0002

Keywords
Populus nigra L., genetic differentiation, microsatellite marker, population structure, population genetics, endangered species

© 2016 Dijana Čortan et al., published by De Gruyter Open

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Genetic structure of remnant black poplar (Populus nigra L.) populations along biggest rivers in Serbia assessed by SSR markers

Published Online: Jun 12, 2017

Page range: 12 - 19

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/sg-2016-0002

KeywordsPopulus nigra L., genetic differentiation, microsatellite marker, population structure, population genetics, endangered species

© 2016 Dijana Čortan et al., published by De Gruyter Open

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Keywords
Populus nigra L., genetic differentiation, microsatellite marker, population structure, population genetics, endangered species