Pleistocene Refugia for Calluna vulgaris (L.) Hull Populations in the European Atlantic Region

• Published in: Russian journal of ecology Vol. 49; no. 4; pp. 286 - 295
• Main Authors: Sannikov, S. N., Petrova, I. V., Paule, L., Egorov, E. V., Cherepanova, O. E., Dymshakova, O. S.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Moscow Pleiades Publishing 01.07.2018; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Biomedical and Life Sciences; Calluna vulgaris; Chlorella; Chloroplast DNA; Chloroplasts; Coastal zone; Deoxyribonucleic acid; Dispersal; DNA; Ecology; Environment; Haplotypes; Life Sciences; Pleistocene; Populations; Recolonization; Refugia; Southern Alps; genetic similarity; the Mediterranean; the Atlantic; chloroplast DNA; refugium; population
• ISSN: 1067-4136; 1608-3334
• DOI: 10.1134/S1067413618030086

The distribution of nine chloroplast DNA haplotypes in four insular North-Atlantic and four European coastal Atlantic populations of Calluna vulgaris in the glacial zone of the range has been analyzed in comparison with that in six marginal southern populations in the nonglacial zone of the Atlantic and Mediterranean regions. As a result, two hypothetical Pleistocene refugia (HPRs) for this C. vulgaris population group have been revealed, one in the Cévennes mountain range and the other in the Southern Alps (Trento). Judging from the 1– F ST value, it has been found that the group of populations in the glacial Atlantic zone and adjacent European coastal Atlantic region is genetically similar to the HPR in the Cévennes at a highly significant level ( p ≥ 0.999) and less similar to the HPR in Trento; however, it differs significantly from other Mediterranean and Atlantic populations. It has been concluded that the most probable hypothetical Pleistocene refugium for the recent C. vulgaris populations of the northeastern Atlantic and European coastal Atlantic regions was in the west of the Mediterranean, in the Cévennes, while the additional refugium was in the Southern Alps. Possible directions of the postglacial dispersal and recolonization of habitats by C. vulgaris populations from the western Mediterranean to the northeast of the Atlantic and to Scandinavia have been revealed.