Phenology of natural Swedish populations of Picea abies as compared with introduced seed sources

1998

S.211-220

5 Abb., 6 Tab., zahlr. Lit.

Unselbständiges Werk

200055371

The phenology of 108 Swedish and 16 north-eastern and central European Norway spruce provenances was studied in a short-term field experiment in central Sweden. Spring frost injury was strongly related to bud flushing stage. With increasing latitude and altitude, bud set and bus flushing started earlier, while early height growth and the proportion of trees having proleptic growth decreased. Based on multivariate analysis, three major provenance zones were distinguished: central European, Swedish south of latitude 60° together with the Baltic States and Belarus, and northern Swedish. In northern Sweden, phenology varied more among populations and was more attributed to clinal latitudinal variation than in southern Sweden. The transitional point between the two different patterns was at approximately latitude 60°. We interpret this divergence as effects of immigration history and differences in gene flow and natural selection intensity within Sweden. A gene conservation programme should include more populations from northern than from southern Sweden.