Landscape genetic structure of Pinus banksiana: allozyme variation
Many of Wisconsin's jack pine forests originated following fire or agricultural abandonment creating a forest mosaic fragmented by a history of disturbance and past land use. The extent and patterning of genetic diversity at a landscape scale (30 × 30 km) was investigated in 82 natural Pinus banksiana Lamb. (jack pine) stands in Wisconsin using 14 polymorphic allozymes. Most measures of genetic diversity and overall allelic frequencies varied little among these stands, and Reynolds' (coancestry) genetic distances were small (mean = 0.026). Genetic differentiation among stands was limited but significant ([Formula: see text]ST = 0.022). Gene flow (Nm) is extensive, estimated to be slightly more than 11 migrants per generation. Autocorrelation analysis provided evidence for a weak pattern of genetic structure at a few loci with a spatial scale of 815 km. However, when all loci were examined together the populations did not present a clear spatial pattern across the landscape, probably because of extensive gene flow among stands.Key words: jack pine, allozymes, genetic diversity, population differentiation, spatial autocorrelation, gene flow.