1. Refugia and postglacial movement of beech in Greece
A.C. Papageorgiou (1), S. Hatziskakis (1), I. Tsiripidis (2), R. Finkeldey (3)
(1)
Democritus University of Thrace
Forest Genetics Laboratory
Orestiada, Greece
(2)
Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
Biology Faculty, Laboratory of Plant Systematics and Plant Geography, Greece
(3)
Georg August Universität Göttingen
Institute of Forest Genetics and Forest Tree Breeding, Germany

2. Beech in Europe
• Most important broadleaved tree species
• Covers large part of Europe
• Was restricted in refugia
– Italy
– Balkans
• Several refugia
– Other refugia
• Slovenia
• S. France
• Current beech expansion in Europe derives from
refugial postglacial lineages

3. Pollen data
Huntley & Birks 1983

4. cpDNA
Uniformity of cpDNA haplotypes in Central and Northern
Europe
– Different haplotypes in Italy and the Balcans
• Possible scenario
– European beech populations derive from the Balkan refugia
– Italian lineage was blocked by the Alpes
• Most recent scenario (Magri et al. 2006)
– Balkan refugial lineages did not expand to the north
– Current beech expansion in Europe derives from Slovenia and
S. France
– Migration to the south was possible through the mountains

5. SSR cpDNA haplotypes

6. Beech distribution in Greece
Moulopoulos, 1965
Tsiripidis, 2001

7. Beech in Greece
• Mountainous “island” populations
• Broad range of ecological conditions
• One species, with two interfertile subspecies
– Fagus sylvatica var. sylvatica
– Fagus sylvatica var. orientalis
• At least two glacial refugia (pollen data)
• Possible introgression zone in NE
• High haplotype diversity

8. Aim
• Describe cpDNA profile of beech in
Greece
– Cover whole distribution
• Describe postglacial lineages
– Refugia
– Introgression zones

9. Materials - methods
• 40 populations sampled covering the
whole geographical range
– 38 in Greece
– 2 in European part of Turkey
• 5 trees / population
• 3 polymorphic SSR primers
– Same ones used in other studies
• 13 haplotypes

10. Hatziskakis et al. 2009

11. Beech cpDNA patterns in Greece
• High overall variation
• Very high differentiation among populations
– Low spatial geographic structure
– High phyllogenetic subdivision
• Possible explanation
– At least 3 refugial areas
• Pindos, Rodopi, Paggeo
– Distant and close-by lineages
• North and Rodopi haplotypes migration
– Introgression between two subspecies
• “orientalis” influence in eastern and central Greece

12. Hatziskakis et al. 2009

13. TCS haplotype network
• Mutational steps
• Western and northern
haplotypes group
together
• Eastern haplotypes have
common origin with the
Rodopi ones
• Possible common origin
during past glacial
periods
– Or the arrows are wrong…

14. In conclusion
• Beech in Greece has a complex diversity pattern
deriving from different lineages from close-by or
distant refugia
• Introgression of the two subspecies is evident,
especially in the north-east
• More than one post-glacial movements must
have occurred
• For the future:
– looking inside refugia and introgression zones
– Compare with other Balkan populations

15. Thanks to
Oliver Gailing
Amaryllis Vidalis
Nicolas G. Eliades
Dimitrios Kasimiadis
Giorgos Korakis
•Thanks to
Oliver Gailing
Amaryllis Vidalis
Nicolas G. Eliades
Dimitrios Kasimiadis
Giorgos Korakis
Thank you for your attention