Gene flow in European beech (Fagus sylvatica L.)

Three relatively isolated stands were used to study gene flow in European beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) in Northern Germany. Nine allozyme loci (Got-B, Idh-A, Lap-A, Mdh-B, Mdh-C, Mnr-A, 6-pgdh-A, Pgi-B and Pgm-A) were utilized for multilocus-genotyping adult trees and seeds. Expected heterozygosity (He) ranged from 0.325 to 0.351 for the three stands. F(ST) revealed that there was small differentiation among stands (mean F(ST) = 0.013). The indirect estimates of gene flow (Nm) based on the mean F(ST) were high and the average Nm was 19.14. External gene flow by pollen ranged from 0.7 to 1.2% inferred from new alleles in seed samples. Moreover, paternity analysis was used to assess effective pollen dispersal by inferring paternity of offspring. The weighted mean distances of pollen dispersal for these three stands were 36.8 and 37.1 m based on simple exclusion procedure and most-likely method, respectively. Two of the trees in one stand had rare allozyme alleles (Lap-A1 and Idh-A4, respectively), which were used to directly measure pollen movement away from those trees. The frequency of the rare Lap and Idh alleles in seeds declines as the distance from the source tree increases. The weighted mean distance of pollen dispersal with rare allele Lap-A1 or Idh-A4 was 26.3 m.