Variability of eight Polish populations of Pinus sylvestris L. expressed in traits of cones

Abstract

Two-year old cones were collected from 257 standing Pinus sylvestris L. trees, representing 8 Polish populations of the species. The cones were analyzed in respect to 11 morphological traits. The obtained data were subjected to multivariate statistical analysis to determine interpopulation variability. Multivariate analysis of variance was performed with testing of statistical hypothesis, Mahalanobis distances for each pair of populations were calculated and their significance was estimated using Hotelling T2 statistics. Using the shortest Mahalanobis distances a dendrite was constructed while Euklidean distances provided grounds for hierarchy grouping. Most of the populations were found to differ significantly from the remaining ones. The population from Ruciane proved to be most distinct. Cone setting angle was the trait of the highest discriminating power in interpopulational comparisons. Using the Bryant's test, the discussed populations were found to form two geographic groups: the north-eastern population group and the south-western one.