Preliminary results on allozyme diversity and differentiation of Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) Karst.) in Poland based on plus tree investigations

Genetic diversity and genetic differentiation among Polish populations of Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) Karst.) were studied analyzing allozyme variation at 24 loci. Presented investigations based on 81 clones represented 6 populations from three different regions: Sudety Mts., Beskid Mts. and North-East Poland. On average, the expected heterozygosity was 0.134, 52.8% of loci were polymorphic, and the number of alleles per locus was 1.8. Our data confirm the hypothesis that a lower level of variation of Picea abies exists in central Europe, compared to other regions of its natural distribution. Relatively small allozyme differentiation among regions was observed (Fst =0.027, and Nei's genetic distances ranged from 0.005 to 0.008). Reasons for the low genetic differentiation observed between Southern and Northern populations are briefly discussed.