Spatial and temporal assessments of genetic structure in an endangered Garry oak ecosystem on Vancouver Island
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Issue Date
2018-01-26
Editor
Authors
Catherall, Erin E.
Janes, Jasmine K.
Josefsson, Caroline A.
Gorrell, Jamieson C.
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Subject
Abstract
Garry oak (Quercus garryana Dougl. ex Hook.) is a deciduous tree whose
ecosystem is listed “at-risk” throughout its range in British Columbia (B.C.), Canada, under the Canadian Species at Risk Act (SARA). Garry oak ecosystems host the most diverse flora for coastal B.C. yet they account for less than 0.3% of the province’s landbase. Due to the loss and degradation of Garry oak habitat, many associated plant and animal species that rely on these sensitive ecosystems are endangered. Microsatellite markers were used to investigate temporal changes in fine-scale population genetic structure of 121 Garry oak trees from the Nanaimo region (Vancouver Island, B.C.) using diameter at breast height as a proxy for age. Overall, allelic diversity was moderate, ranging from 3.0 to 7.5 alleles per locus with an average of 4.4 (± 0.4 SE) across all loci. Global FST of 0.06 and 0.09 suggests significant departures from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium among all populations and age-classified subpopulations, respectively. We found no evidence for change in genetic diversity across generations. Our results indicate low levels of differentiation within populations and high levels of gene flow among populations, suggesting an adaptive potential for Garry oaks in response to future climate
change events.
Description
This is an author-produced manuscript version of an article that was published as: Catherall, E.E., Janes, J.K., Josefsson, C.A., & Gorrell, J.C. (2018). Spatial and temporal assessments of genetic structure in an endangered
Garry oak ecosystem on Vancouver Island. Botany. https://dx.doi.org/10.1139/cjb-2017-0130
This manuscript has been accepted for publication in Botany and has not undergone copy editing or page composition. Copyright of all articles in the NRC Research Press journals remains with the authors, or the authors’
organization, unless specified otherwise. Botany is part of the NRC Research Press suite of journals published by Canadian Science Publishing (CSP). More
information about the journal can be found at: http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/journal/cjb, and this article can
be found at: https://dx.doi.org/10.1139/cjb-2017-0130.