Abstract
Genetic diversity at 11 loci encoding nine enzymes was studied in 23 populations of Japanese beech Fagus crenata Blume distributed throughout the range of the species. Levels of genetic diversity were high for both within species (expected mean heterozygosity: 0.194) and within populations (expected mean heterozygosity: 0.187), whereas the level of genetic diversity among populations was low (GST = 0.038), as observed in various long-lived, woody plants. Despite the low differentiation among populations, geographical patterning of the variation was observed. Populations in south-western Japan tended to have greater within-population variation and to be more highly differentiated when compared with those in north-eastern Japan. In addition, allele frequencies observed at eight loci were significantly related to latitudinal and/or longitudinal gradients and showed clinal variation across the range of the species. Principal components analysis revealed that the populations tended to cluster according to their geographical locations. The nonrandom patterns of variation were probably shaped by relatively recent historical events such as late-Quaternary migration and founding events.
Similar content being viewed by others
Article PDF
References
Brown, A H D. 1979. Enzyme polymorphism in plant populations. Theor Pop Biol, 8, 184–201.
Comps, B, Thiébaut, B, Paule, L, Merzeau, D, and Letouzey, J. 1990. Allozymic variability in beechwoods (Fagus sylvatica L.) over central Europe: spatial differentiation among and within populations. Heredity, 65, 407–417.
Cwynar, L C, and Macdonald, G M. 1987. Geographical variation of lodgepole pine in relation to population history. Am Nat, 129, 463–469.
Davis, B J. 1964. Disk electrophoresis—II: method and application to human serum protein. Ann NY Acad Sci, 121, 404–427.
Gottlieb, L D. 1981. Electrophoretic evidence and plant populations. Prog Phytochem, 7, 1–46.
Govindaraju, D R. 1988. Relationship between dispersal ability and levels of gene flow in plants. Oikos, 52, 31–35.
Gregorius, H-R, and Roberds, J H. 1986. Measurement of genetical differentiation among subpopulations. Theor Appl Genet, 71, 826–834.
Guries, R P, and Ledig, F T. 1982. Genetic diversity and population structure in pitch pine (Pinus rigida Mill.). Evolution, 36, 387–402.
Hamrick, J L, and Godt, M J W. 1989. Allozyme diversity in plant species. In: Brown, A. H. D., Clegg, M. T., Kahler, A. L. and Weir, B. S. (eds) Plant Population Genetics, Breeding and Genetic Resources, pp. 43–63. Sinauer Associates, Sunderland, MA.
Hamrick, J L, Linhart, Y B, and Mitton, J B. 1979. Relationships between life history characteristics and electrophoretically detectable genetic variation in plants. Ann Rev Ecol Syst, 10, 173–200.
Hamrick, J L, Godt, M J W, and Sherman-Broylers, S L. 1992. Factors influencing levels of genetic diversity in woody plant species. New Forests, 6, 95–124.
Hiebert, R D, and Hamrick, J L. 1983. Patterns and levels of genetic variation in Great Basin bristlecone pine, Pinus longaeva. Evolution, 37, 302–310.
Horikawa, Y. 1972. Atlas of the Japanese Flora, an Introduction to Plant Sociology of East Asia. Gakken, Tokyo.
Jensen, T S. 1985. Seed-seed predator interactions of European beech, Fagus sylvatica and forest rodents, Clethrionomys glareolus and Apodemus flavicollis. Oikos, 44, 149–156.
Johnson, W C, and Adkisson, C S. 1985. Dispersal of beech nuts by blue jays in fragmented landscapes. Am Midl Nat, 113, 319–324.
Kimura, M, and Crow, J F. 1964. The number of alleles that can be maintained in a finite population. Genetics, 49, 725–738.
Lagercrantz, U, and Ryman, N. 1990. Genetic structure of Norway spruce (Picea abies): concordance of morphological and allozymic variation. Evolution, 44, 38–53.
Leonardi, S, and Menozzi, P. 1995. Genetic variability of Fagus sylvatica L. in Italy: the role of postglacial recolonization. Heredity, 75, 35–44.
Levin, D A, and Kerster, H W. 1974. Gene flow in seed plants. In: Dobzhansky, T., Hecht, M. K. and Steere, W. C. (eds) Evolutionary Biology, vol. 7, pp. 139–220. Plenum Press, New York.
Li, C C, and Horvitz, D G. 1953. Some methods of estimating the inbreeding coefficient. Am J Hum Genet, 5, 107–117.
Li, P, and Adams, W T. 1989. Range-wide patterns of allozyme variation in Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii). Can J Forest Res, 19, 149–161.
Maruyama, T. 1970. On the rate of decrease of heterozygosity in circular stepping stone models of populations. Theor Pop Biol, 1, 101–119.
Michaud, H, Toumi, L, Lumaret, R, Li, T X, Romane, F, and Di Giusto, F. 1995. Effect of geographical discontinuity on genetic variation in Quercus ilex L. (holm oak). Evidence from enzyme polymorphism. Heredity, 74, 590–606.
Miguchi, H. 1994. Role of wood mice on the regeneration of cool temperate forest. In: Proceeding of NAFRO, Niigata, Japan, August 20, 1994, pp. 115–121. Northeast Asia Forest Research Organization, Niigata University.
Nei, M. 1972. Genetic distance between populations. Am Nat, 106, 283–292.
Nei, M. 1973. Analysis of gene diversity in subdivided populations. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA, 70, 3321–3323.
Nei, M. 1977. F-statistics and analysis of gene diversity in subdivided populations. Ann Hum Genet, 41, 225–233.
Nei, M. 1978. Estimation of average heterozygosity and genetic distance from a small number of individuals. Genetics, 89, 583–590.
Nei, M, and Chesser, R K. 1983. Estimation of fixation indices and gene diversities. Ann Hum Genet, 47, 253–259.
Nei, M, and Roychoudhury, A K. 1974. Sampling variances of heterozygosity and genetic distance. Genetics, 76, 379–390.
Nei, M, Maruyama, T, and Chakraborty, R. 1975. The bottleneck effect and genetic variability in populations. Evolution, 29, 1–10.
Niebling, C R, and Conkle, M T. 1990. Diversity of Washoe pine and comparisons with allozymes of ponderosa pine races. Can J Forest Res, 20, 298–308.
Ornstein, L. 1964. Disk electrophoresis—I: background and theory. Ann NY Acad Sci, 121, 321–349.
Quenouille, M H. 1952. Associated Measurements. Academic Press, New York.
Sas Institute. 1985. SAS User's Guide: Statistics. Version 5th edn SAS Institute, Cary, NC.
Slatkin, M, and Barton, N H. 1989. A comparison of three indirect methods of estimating average levels of gene flow. Evolution, 43, 1349–1368.
Slatkin, M, and Maruyama, T. 1975. The influence of gene flow on genetic distance. Am Nat, 109, 597–601.
Takahashi, M, Tsumura, Y, Nakamura, T, Uchida, K, and Ohba, K. 1994. Allozyme variation of Fagus crenata in northeastern Japan. Can J Forest Res, 24, 1071–1074.
The Environment Agency. 1988. The Third National Survey on the Natural Environment: Report on Vegetation Survey (national level). Asia Air Survey, Tokyo (in Japanese).
Tsukada, M. 1980. The history of Japanese cedar: the last 15 000 years. Kagaku (Science), 50, 538–546 (in Japanese).
Tsukada, M. 1982a. Late-Quaternary development of the Fagus forest in the Japanese archipelago. Jap J Ecol, 32, 113–118.
Tsukada, M. 1982b. Late-Quaternary shift of Fagus distribution. Bot Mag Tokyo, 95, 203–217.
Tsumura, Y, and Ohba, K. 1993. Genetic structure of geographical marginal populations of Cryptomeria japonica. Can J Forest Res, 23, 859–863.
Vander Wall, S B. 1990. Food Hoarding in Animals. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
Watanabe, S. 1990. Japanese beech (Fagus crenata): its characteristics and distribution. Nature in Hokkaido, 29, 1–6 (in Japanese).
Wheeler, N C, and Guries, R P. 1982a. Population structure, genie diversity and morphological variation in Pinus contorta Dougl. Can J Forest Res, 12, 595–606.
Wheeler, N C, and Guries, R P. 1982b. Biogeography of lodgepole pine. Can J Bot, 60, 1805–1814.
Workman, P L, and Niswander, J D. 1970. Population studies on southwestern Indian tribes. II. Local genetic differentiation in the Papago. Am J Hum Genet, 22, 24–49.
Wright, S. 1931. Evolution in Mendelian populations. Genetics, 16, 97–159.
Wright, S. 1965. The interpretation of population structure by F-statistics with special regard to systems of mating. Evolution, 19, 395–420.
Zanetto, A, and Kremer, A. 1995. Geographical structure of gene diversity in Quercus petraea (Matt.) Liebl. I. Monolocus patterns of variation. Heredity, 75, 506–517.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Tomaru, N., Mitsutsuji, T., Takahashi, M. et al. Genetic diversity in Fagus crenata (Japanese beech): influence of the distributional shift during the late-Quaternary. Heredity 78, 241–251 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1038/hdy.1997.38
Received:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/hdy.1997.38
Keywords
This article is cited by
-
Field transcriptome revealed a novel relationship between nitrate transport and flowering in Japanese beech
Scientific Reports (2019)
-
Genetic differentiation in the timing of budburst in Fagus crenata in relation to temperature and photoperiod
International Journal of Biometeorology (2018)
-
Geographic patterns of genetic variation in nuclear and chloroplast genomes of two related oaks (Quercus aliena and Q. serrata) in Japan: implications for seed and seedling transfer
Tree Genetics & Genomes (2017)
-
Projecting spatiotemporal changes in suitable climate conditions to regenerate trees using niche differences between adult and juvenile trees
European Journal of Forest Research (2016)
-
Family‐specific responses in survivorship and phenotypic traits to different light environments in a seedling population of Fagus crenata in a cool‐temperate forest
Population Ecology (2015)