Limited effects of population age on the genetic structure of spatially isolated forest herb populations in temperate Europe.

ABSTRACT: Due to multiple land-cover changes, forest herb populations residing in forest patches embedded in agricultural landscapes display different ages and, thus, experience differences in genetic exchange, mutation accumulation and genetic drift. The extent of divergence in present-day population genetic structure among these populations of different ages remains unclear, considering their diverse breeding systems and associated pollinators. Answering this question is essential to understand these species' persistence, maintenance of evolutionary potential and adaptability to changing environments. We applied a multi-landscape setup to compare the genetic structure of forest herb populations across forest patches of different ages (18-338 years). We studied the impact on three common slow-colon

SUBMITTER: Huang S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10897356 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature