Interpopulational variability of Pinus sylvestris L. in eight Polish localities expressed in morphological and anatomical traits of needles

Abstract

Two-year old needles were collected from 272 standing trees of Pinus sylvestris L., representing 8 Polish populations. The needles were studied in respect to IS morphological and anatomical traits. The obtained data were subjected to multivariate statistical analysis in an attempt to delineate interpopulational variability. Multivariate analysis of variance with testing of statistical hypotheses and discriminant analysis were conducted. Mahalanobis distances were calculated between each of population in pairs and their significance was estimated using Hotelling T² statistics. On the basis of the shortest Mahalanobis distances a minimum spanning tree was constructed and on the basis of Euklidean distances hierarchy grouping was performed. A large majority of the populations was found to differ significantly from the remaining populations. The population from Bolewice proved to be most divergent. The principal variables which proved capable of discriminating between populations were found to include: needle length, the number of stomata on the flat side of the needle and the number of resin canals. Using Bryant's test, the studied populations were found to belong to two geographic groups: the North-Polish one or the South-Polish one.