INVESTIGATION OF GENETIC DIVERSITY BASED ON PHYSIOLOGICAL INDICATORS IN SOME OAK (QUERCUS SSP.) SPECIES

Abstract

In vi­ew of the eco­lo­gi­cal im­por­tan­ce of fo­rests in com­ba­ting glo­bal war­ming, the­re has be­en inc­rea­sing at­ten­ti­on in re­cent ye­ars to re­se­arc­hing Qu­er­cus spe­ci­es for the­ir abi­lity to withs­tand dro­ught. We com­pa­red fo­ur Qu­er­cus spe­ci­es in dif­fe­rent si­tes of Azer­bai­jan (Ga­ba­la, İs­ma­yıl­lı, Shaki, Lan­ka­ran, Gan­ja, Ba­ku). Thus, fi­ve func­tio­nal tra­its (re­la­ti­ve wa­ter con­tent (RWC), wa­ter con­tent (WC), le­af mass per unit area (LMA), spe­ci­fic le­af area (SLA), and suc­cu­len­ce (S)) re­la­ted to dro­ught to­le­ran­ce we­re mea­su­red. Ba­sed on the re­sults of the­se func­tio­nal tra­its, the Eucli­de­an ge­ne­tic dis­tan­ce in­dex was de­ter­mi­ned and clus­ter analy­sis was per­for­med. As the tem­pe­ra­tu­re inc­rea­ses and the amo­unt of pre­ci­pi­ta­ti­on dec­rea­ses, plants are ex­po­sed to dro­ught stress, which is ac­com­pa­ni­ed by a dec­rea­se in RWC, WC, SLA and S. In cont­rast, an inc­rea­se in LMA was ob­ser­ved. So, the con­duc­ted analy­ses show that the­re is sig­ni­fi­cant ge­ne­tic di­ver­sity among oak ge­noty­pes and that this di­ver­sity is for­med un­der the inf­lu­en­ce of eco­lo­gi­cal adap­ta­ti­on, ge­og­rap­hi­cal dist­ri­bu­ti­on and evo­lu­tio­nary pro­ces­ses.

Key­words: fo­rest, func­tio­nal tra­its, dro­ught, Re­la­ti­ve Wa­ter Con­tent, adap­ta­ti­on abi­lity