Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-ndw9j Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-14T05:22:07.975Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Pollen movement in a Malus sylvestris population and conclusions for conservation measures

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 August 2015

Stefanie Reim ,
Anke Proft ,
Simone Heinz ,
Frank Lochschmidt ,
Monika Höfer ,
Ute Tröber  and
Heino Wolf
Stefanie Reim*
Affiliation:
Public Enterprise Sachsenforst, Forest Genetics and Forest Plant Breeding, Bonnewitzer Str. 34, D-01796Pirna, Germany
Anke Proft
Affiliation:
Green League Osterzgebirge e.V., Große Wassergasse 9, D-01744Dippoldiswalde, Germany
Simone Heinz
Affiliation:
Green League Osterzgebirge e.V., Große Wassergasse 9, D-01744Dippoldiswalde, Germany
Frank Lochschmidt
Affiliation:
Green League Osterzgebirge e.V., Große Wassergasse 9, D-01744Dippoldiswalde, Germany
Monika Höfer
Affiliation:
Public Enterprise Sachsenforst, Forest Genetics and Forest Plant Breeding, Bonnewitzer Str. 34, D-01796Pirna, Germany
Ute Tröber
Affiliation:
Public Enterprise Sachsenforst, Forest Genetics and Forest Plant Breeding, Bonnewitzer Str. 34, D-01796Pirna, Germany
Heino Wolf
Affiliation:
Public Enterprise Sachsenforst, Forest Genetics and Forest Plant Breeding, Bonnewitzer Str. 34, D-01796Pirna, Germany
*
*Corresponding author. E-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Knowledge of pollen movement and frequency of interspecific hybridization in fragmented populations of rare species is a prerequisite for the implementation of conservation measures. In a large-scale study area (14,000 hectares) we analysed 297 Malus sylvestris trees with nine nuclear microsatellite markers. After open pollination of 564 offspring from 51 mother trees located in seven harvesting sites were investigated and genetic paternity analysis was performed. The paternal parent was identified for 213 offspring and the pollen dispersal distances between mother and pollen source were calculated. A large proportion of detected pollination events (42.4%) were observed within a radius of 50 m of the mother tree. The comparison of different tree densities indicated that with decreasing density the pollen dispersal distances increase. We observed pollination over long distances with a maximum of 10.7 km which is probably one of the reasons for a low spatial genetic structure within the M. sylvestris population and a stable genetic diversity in the offspring. Incorporating microsatellite data of 21 apple cultivars, a hybridization frequency of nearly 8% was determined. With decreasing tree density the number of hybridization events increased. Based on the results of our study an enhancement of the density of existing M. sylvestris populations is recommend to reduce the likelihood of hybridization. The production of young plants originated from seeds collected after open pollination is not advisable. Instead of that the seedlings for further reintroduction measures should be produced by controlled crossings in seed orchards to ensure ‘true type’ M. sylvestris individuals.

Keywords

crap appleendangeredlong-distance pollen dispersalpaternity analysis
Type
Research Article
Information
Plant Genetic Resources , Volume 15 , Issue 1 , February 2017 , pp. 12 - 20
Copyright
Copyright © NIAB 2015 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Ahmed, S, Compton, SG, Butlin, RK and Gilmartin, PM (2009) Wind-borne insects mediate directional pollen transfer between desert fig trees 160 kilometers apart. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (USA) 106: 20342–20347.Google Scholar
Albaladejo, RG, Guzman, B, Gonzalez-Martinez, SC and Aparicio, A (2012) Extensive pollen flow but few pollen donors and high reproductive variance in an extremely fragmented landscape. PloS One 11: e49012.Google Scholar
Ashley, MV (2010) Plant parentage, pollination, and dispersal: how DNA microsatellites have altered the landscape. Critical Reviews in Plant Science 29: 148–161.Google Scholar
Beekman, M and Ratnieks, FLW (2000) Long-range foraging by the honey-bee, Apis mellifera L. Functional Ecology 14: 490–496.Google Scholar
Broothaerts, W (2003) New findings in apple S-genotype analysis resolve previous confusion and request the re-numbering of some S-alleles. Theoretical and Applied Genetics 106: 703–714.Google Scholar
Büttner, R (1999) Malus sylvestris L. Mill. – a potential source of mildew resistance for apple breeding. Erwerbsobstbau 41: 100–101.Google Scholar
Carneiro, FS, Degen, B, Kanashiro, M, Biscaia de Lacerda, AE and Sebbenn, MA (2009) High levels of pollen dispersal detected through paternity analysis from a continuous Symphonia globulifera population in the Brazilian Amazon. Forest Ecology Management 258: 1260–1266.Google Scholar
Chase, MW and Hills, HH (1991) Silica-Gel – an ideal material for field preservation of leaf samples for DNA studies. Taxon 40: 215–220.Google Scholar
Cornille, A, Gladieux, P, Smulders, MJM, Roldan-Ruiz, I, Laurens, F, Le Cam, B, Nersesyan, A, Clavel, J, Olonova, M, Feugey, L, Gabrielyan, I, Zhang, XG, Tenaillon, M and Giraud, T (2012) New insight into the history of domesticated apple: secondary contribution of the European wild apple to the genome of cultivated varieties. PLOS Genetics 8: e1002703. doi:10.1371/journal.pgen.1002703.Google Scholar
Dakin, EE and Avise, JC (2004) Microsatellite null alleles in parentage analysis. Heredity 93: 504–509. doi:10.1038/sj.hdy.6800545.Google Scholar
De Nettancourt, D (2001) Incompatibility and Incongruity in Wild and Cultivated Plants. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer-Verlag.Google Scholar
Dick, CW (2001) Genetic rescue of remnant tropical trees by an alien pollinator. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London 268: 2391–2396.Google Scholar
Dick, CW, Jones, FA, Hardy, OJ and Petit, R (2008) Spatial scales of seed and pollen-mediated gene flow in tropical forest trees. Tropical Plant Biology 1: 20–33.Google Scholar
Garcia, C, Jordano, P and Godoy, JA (2007) Contemporary pollen and seed dispersal in a Prunus mahaleb population: patterns in distance and direction. Molecular Ecology 16: 1947–1955.Google Scholar
Govan, CL, Fernandez, FF, Clarke, JB, Marchese, A, Tobutt, KR and Evans, KM (2007) Fingerprinting the National Fruit Collections. East Malling Research, East Malling, Kent ME19 6BJ, UK. http://www.aab.org.uk/images/fernandez.pdf.Google Scholar
Hokanson, SC, Szewc-McFadden, AK, Lamboy, WF and McFerson, JR (1998) Microsatellite (SSR) markers reveal genetic identities, genetic diversity and relationships in a Malus× domestica Borkh. core subset collection. Theoretical and Applied Genetics 97: 671–683.Google Scholar
Kalinowski, S, Taper, M and Marshall, T (2007) Revising how the computer program CERVUS accommodates genotyping error increases success in paternity assignment. Molecular Ecology 16: 1099–1106.Google Scholar
Kamm, U, Rotach, P, Gugerli, F, Siroky, M, Edwards, P and Holderegger, R (2009) Frequent long-distance gene flow in a rare temperate forest tree (Sorbus domestica) at the landscape scale. Heredity 103: 476–482.Google Scholar
Kleinschmit, J and Stephan, R (1997) Wild fruit trees. EUFORGEN Noble Hardwoods, Network, Reports, pp. 51–59.Google Scholar
Kramer, AT, Ison, JL, Ashley, MV and Howe, HF (2008) The paradox of forest fragmentation genetics. Conservation Biology 22: 878–885.Google Scholar
Larsen, A, Asmussen, C, Coart, E, Olrik, D and Kjær, E (2006) Hybridization and genetic variation in Danish populations of European crab apple. Tree Genetics and Genomes 2: 86–97.Google Scholar
Larsen, AS and Kjaer, ED (2009) Pollen mediated gene flow in a native population of Malus sylvestris and its implications for contemporary gene conservation management. Conservation Genetics 10: 1637–1646.Google Scholar
Liebhard, R, Gianfranceschi, L, Koller, B, Ryder, CD, Tarchini, R, van de Weg, E and Gessler, C (2002) Development and characterization of 140 new microsatellites in apple (Malus domestica Borkh.). Molecular Breeding 10: 217–241.Google Scholar
Mantel, N (1967) Adaptation of Karber's method for estimating the exponential parameter from quantal data, and its relationship to birth, death, and branching processes. Biometrics 23: 739–746.Google Scholar
Marshall, TC, Slate, J, Kruuk, LEB and Pemberton, JM (1998) Statistical confidence for likelihood-based paternity inference in natural populations. Molecular Ecology 7: 639–655.Google Scholar
Oddou-Muratorio, S, Klein, EK and Austerlitz, F (2005) Pollen flow in the wildservice tree, Sorbus torminalis (L.) Crantz. II. Pollen dispersal and heterogeneity in mating success inferred from parent-offspring analysis. Molecular Ecology 14: 4441–4452.Google Scholar
Palmer-Jones, T and Clinch, PG (1968) Observations on the pollination of apple trees (Malus sylvestris Mill.). New Zealand Journal of Agricultural Research 11: 149–154.Google Scholar
Peakall, R and Smouse, PE (2006) GENALEX 6: genetic analysis in Excel. Population genetic software for teaching and research. Molecular Ecology Notes 6: 288–295.Google Scholar
Peakall, R and Smouse, PE (2012) GENALEX 6.5: genetic analysis in Excel. Population genetic software for teaching and research – an update. Bioinformatics 28: 2537–2539.Google Scholar
Pickhardt, A and Fluri, P (2000) Die Bestäubung der Blütenpflanzen durch Bienen. Schweizerisches Zentrum für Bienenforschung. Mitteilung Nr. 38.Google Scholar
Reim, S, Proft, A, Heinz, S and Höfer, M (2012) Diversity of the European indigenous wild apple Malus sylvestris (L.) Mill. in the East Ore Mountains (Osterzgebirge), Germany: I. Morphological characterization. Genetic Resources and Crop Evolution 59: 1101–1114.Google Scholar
Schnitzler, A, Arnold, C, Cornille, A, Bachmann, O and Schnitzler, C (2014) Wild European apple (Malus sylvestris (L.) Mill.) population dynamics: insight from genetics and ecology in the Rhine Valley. Priorities for a future conservation programme. PLoS One 9: e96596 . doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0096596.Google Scholar
Schulze, T, Schröder, J and Kätzel, R (2013) Erfassung und Dokumentation genetischer Ressourcen seltener und gefährdeter Baumarten in Deutschland. Teillos 2: Wild-Apfel (Malus sylvestris) und Wild-Birne (Pyrus pyraster). Endbericht, Berichtsteil: Wild-Apfel. AZ 114-02.05-20.0074/09E- Los 2.Google Scholar
Sebbenn, AM, Licona, JC, Mostacedo, B and Degen, B (2012) Gene flow in an overexploited population of Swietenia macrophylla King (Meliaceae) in the Bolivian Amazon. Silvae Genetica 61: 4–5.Google Scholar
Silfverberg-Dilworth, E, Matasci, CL, Van de Weg, WE, Van Kaauwen, MPW, Walser, M, Kodde, LP, Soglio, V, Gianfranceschi, L, Durel, CE, Costa, F, Yamamoto, T, Koller, B, Gessler, C and Patocchi, A (2006) Microsatellite markers spanning the apple (Malus× domestica Borkh) genome. Tree Genetic and Genomes 2: 202–224.Google Scholar
Stephan, R, Wagner, I and Kleinschmit, J (2003) Technical Guidelines for Genetic Conservation and Use for Wild Apple and Pear (Malus sylvestris and Pyrus pyraster . Rome, Italy: EUFORGEN International Plant Genetic Research Institute.Google Scholar
Vranckx, G, Jacquemyn, H, Muys, B and Honnay, O (2012) Meta-analysis of susceptibility of woody plants to loss of genetic diversity through habitat fragmentation. Conservation Biology 26: 228–237.Google Scholar