ALBERT

Description:    To test how efficiently plantations and seed orchards captured genetic diversity from natural Anatolian black pine ( Pinus nigra Arnold subspecies pallasiana Holmboe) seed stands, seed sources were chosen from 3 different categories (seed stands (SS), seed orchards (SO) and plantations (P)) comprising 4 different breeding zones of the species in Turkey. Twenty-five trees (mother trees) were selected from each SS, SO and P seed sources and were screened with 11 Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA (RAPD) markers. Estimated genetic diversity parameters were found to be generally high in all Anatolian black pine seed sources and the majority of genetic diversity is contained within seed sources (94%). No significant difference in genetic diversity parameters (numbers of effective alleles, % of polymorphic loci and heterozygosity) among seed source categories was found, except for a slight increase in observed heterozygosities in seed orchards. For all seed source categories, observed heterozygosity values were higher (H o  = 0.49 for SS, 0.55 for SO and 0.49 for P) than expected ones (H e  = 0.40 for SS, 0.39 for SO and 0.38 for P) indicating the excess of heterozygotes. In general, genetic diversity in seed stands has been transferred successfully into seed orchards and plantations. However, the use of seeds from seed orchards can increase the amount of genetic diversity in plantations further. The study also demonstrated that number of plus-tree clones (25–38) used in the establishment of seed orchards was adequate to capture the high level of diversity from natural stands. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-15 DOI 10.1007/s11056-011-9282-8 Authors Burcu Çengel, Forest Tree Seeds and Tree Breeding Research Directorate, Gazi, 06560 Ankara, Turkey Yasemin Tayanç, Forest Tree Seeds and Tree Breeding Research Directorate, Gazi, 06560 Ankara, Turkey Gaye Kandemir, Forest Tree Seeds and Tree Breeding Research Directorate, Gazi, 06560 Ankara, Turkey Ercan Velioglu, Forest Tree Seeds and Tree Breeding Research Directorate, Gazi, 06560 Ankara, Turkey Murat Alan, Forest Tree Seeds and Tree Breeding Research Directorate, Gazi, 06560 Ankara, Turkey Zeki Kaya, Department of Biological Sciences, Middle East Technical University, 06531 Ankara, Turkey Journal New Forests Online ISSN 1573-5095 Print ISSN 0169-4286