Department of Environmental Systems Science, the Institute of Terrestrial Ecosystems, Ecosystem Management, ETH Zurich, 8092 Zurich, Switzerland.
J Hered. 2013 Nov-Dec;104(6):842-52. doi: 10.1093/jhered/est058. Epub 2013 Sep 24.
Semi-dry grasslands in the European Alps have been increasingly fragmented over the last 150 years. Few studies have investigated the implications of landscape configuration for genetic structure and gene flow among remnant habitat patches. Conservation management of semi-dry grassland plants rarely accounts for possible effects of major landscape elements, such as forest patches, as barriers to gene flow and dispersal via seed and pollen, despite their potential importance for biodiversity conservation. Using 1416 individuals from 61 sampling sites across 2 valleys in South-Eastern Switzerland and Amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) fingerprints, we applied a spatial strip and a circle approach to determine the impact of different landscape elements on genetic differentiation in the semi-dry grassland herb Trifolium montanum (mountain clover). Overall genetic differentiation among sampling sites was low (overall F ST = 0.044). Forest area had no effect on gene flow at the landscape scale, but area of semi-dry grassland, the potential habitat of T. montanum, road area, and altitude influenced genetic differentiation among sampling sites. The observed pattern of genetic differentiation suggests that a future increase in forest area, due to land use abandonment, at least in the short term, are unlikely to directly impact patterns of genetic variation in T. montanum.
在过去的 150 年里，阿尔卑斯山的半干旱草原日益支离破碎。很少有研究调查景观配置对遗传结构和残余生境斑块间基因流动的影响。尽管森林斑块等主要景观要素可能对生物多样性保护具有重要意义，但在半干旱草原植物的保护管理中，很少考虑到它们作为基因流动和通过种子和花粉传播的障碍的可能影响。在瑞士东南部的两个山谷的 61 个采样点中，我们使用了 1416 个个体和扩增片段长度多态性（AFLP）指纹图谱，采用空间带和圆形方法，确定了不同景观要素对半干旱草原草本植物三叶草（montanum）遗传分化的影响。总体而言，采样点之间的遗传分化程度较低（总体 FST=0.044）。森林面积对景观尺度上的基因流动没有影响，但半干旱草原面积、三叶草潜在栖息地、道路面积和海拔高度影响了采样点之间的遗传分化。观察到的遗传分化模式表明，由于土地利用的废弃，未来森林面积的增加，至少在短期内，不太可能直接影响三叶草的遗传变异模式。
