In: Phyton, 51 Fasc. 2 (2011), S. 177-199, with 4 figures

Key words: Gentiana verna, Gentianaceae. – Allozymes, conservation, polyploidy, population genetics, alien genotypes. – Flora of the Czech Republic.

Summary

KIRSCHNER J., KIRSCHNEROVÁ L. & BARTISH I. 2011. Conservation status of two isolated populations of Gentiana verna (Gentianaceae) in the Czech Republic: Insights from an allozyme analysis. – Phyton (Horn, Austria) 51 (2): 177–199, with 4 figures.

Gentiana verna L. consists in the Czech Republic of two populations which are 300 km apart and which are more than 100 km distant from the nearest populations abroad. The distribution pattern reflects a formerly much wider distribution. Samples from the two populations were studied using allozyme analysis. The population at Rovná, S Bohemia, is small and shows an almost complete homozygosity associated with a long period of inbreeding (indicated by unchanged allozyme patterns in repeated samples in 1998 and 2005), and a low genotype diversity. The larger population at Velká kotlina (Glacial Cirque), located in the Hrubý Jeseník Mts., N Moravia, is also homozygous in the majority of loci studied, and dispersal of seeds and pollen is not limited by spatial distance within this population. As a probable consequence of allotetraploidy, both populations exhibit fixed heterozygosity at 6Pgdh-1. Three new plants suddenly appearing at Rovná during the monitoring of the site in 2005 were suspected to be a result of introduction of alien genetic material and were treated as a separate subpopulation. The three plants proved to be extremely distant from both natural populations and their alien status was confirmed. The problem of introduction of alien material into populations of threatened plants is briefly discussed. Comparison of gene frequencies, genotype composition and unique alleles of the two natural populations revealed that they are genetically very remote from one another and, from the conservation viewpoint, cannot be considered as a single management unit with mutually interchangeable individuals.