Refugia and Post-Glacial Movement of Beech in Greece

A.C. Papageorgiou (1), S. Hatziskakis (1), I. Tsiripidis (2), R. Finkeldey (3)

(1)Democritus University of ThraceForest Genetics Laboratory

Orestiada, Greece(2)Aristotle University of Thessaloniki

Biology Faculty, Laboratory of Plant Systematics and Plant Geography, Greece(3)Georg August Universität Göttingen

Institute of Forest Genetics and Forest Tree Breeding, Germany

Refugia and postglacial movement of beech in Greece

Beech in Europe

• Most important broadleaved tree species• Covers large part of Europe• Was restricted in refugia

– Italy– Balkans

• Several refugia

– Other refugia• Slovenia• S. France

• Current beech expansion in Europe derives from refugial postglacial lineages

Pollen data

Huntley & Birks 1983

cpDNA

Uniformity of cpDNA haplotypes in Central and Northern Europe– Different haplotypes in Italy and the Balcans

• Possible scenario– European beech populations derive from the Balkan refugia– Italian lineage was blocked by the Alpes

• Most recent scenario (Magri et al. 2006)– Balkan refugial lineages did not expand to the north– Current beech expansion in Europe derives from Slovenia and

S. France– Migration to the south was possible through the mountains

SSR cpDNA haplotypes

Beech distribution in Greece

Moulopoulos, 1965

Tsiripidis, 2001

Beech in Greece

• Mountainous “island” populations• Broad range of ecological conditions• One species, with two interfertile subspecies

– Fagus sylvatica var. sylvatica– Fagus sylvatica var. orientalis

• At least two glacial refugia (pollen data)• Possible introgression zone in NE• High haplotype diversity

Aim

• Describe cpDNA profile of beech in Greece– Cover whole distribution

• Describe postglacial lineages– Refugia– Introgression zones

Materials - methods

• 40 populations sampled covering the whole geographical range– 38 in Greece– 2 in European part of Turkey

• 5 trees / population

• 3 polymorphic SSR primers– Same ones used in other studies

• 13 haplotypes

Hatziskakis et al. 2009

Beech cpDNA patterns in Greece

• High overall variation• Very high differentiation among populations

– Low spatial geographic structure– High phyllogenetic subdivision

• Possible explanation– At least 3 refugial areas

• Pindos, Rodopi, Paggeo

– Distant and close-by lineages• North and Rodopi haplotypes migration

– Introgression between two subspecies• “orientalis” influence in eastern and central Greece

Hatziskakis et al. 2009

TCS haplotype network

• Mutational steps• Western and northern

haplotypes group together

• Eastern haplotypes have common origin with the Rodopi ones

• Possible common origin during past glacial periods– Or the arrows are wrong…

In conclusion

• Beech in Greece has a complex diversity pattern deriving from different lineages from close-by or distant refugia

• Introgression of the two subspecies is evident, especially in the north-east

• More than one post-glacial movements must have occurred

• For the future: – looking inside refugia and introgression zones– Compare with other Balkan populations

Thank you for your attention

Thanks to

Oliver Gailing Amaryllis Vidalis Nicolas G. Eliades Dimitrios Kasimiadis Giorgos Korakis