GENETIC, MORPHOLOGICAL, ECOLOGICAL AND PHENOLOGICAL DIFFERENTIATION BETWEEN QUERCUS-PETRAEA (MATT) LIEBL AND QUERCUS-ROBUR L IN A MIXED STAND OF NORTHWEST OF FRANCE
R. Bacilieri et al., GENETIC, MORPHOLOGICAL, ECOLOGICAL AND PHENOLOGICAL DIFFERENTIATION BETWEEN QUERCUS-PETRAEA (MATT) LIEBL AND QUERCUS-ROBUR L IN A MIXED STAND OF NORTHWEST OF FRANCE, Silvae Genetica, 44(1), 1995, pp. 1-10
The sessile and pedunculate oaks are the most common tree species in E
urope. The 2 taxons are closely related, and, in spite of their ecolog
ical differences, they form frequently mixed forests, where hybridisat
ion is suspected to occur. In this paper, we describe a mixed forest s
tand of sessile and pedunculate oaks, in which a regular slope establi
shes an ecological gradient. Genetic, morphological, phenological and
ecological differentiation between the 2 species and the existence of
parallel variations among these different types of characters are anal
ysed. The sessile and the pedunculate oaks studied here showed a weak
differentiation for the genetic, morphological and ecological characte
rs. The flowering of the 2 species was synchronous over 3 years. Morph
ological and ecological traits showed an overlapping distribution; wit
h allozymes any specific marker was not identified. Within each specie
s the diversity is not structured along the ecological gradient, we do
not find associations among ecological, morphological, phenological t
raits and allozyme markers. Inferences about the taxonomic relationshi
ps of these species are discussed.