RELATION BETWEEN GENETIC-STRUCTURE AND SUSCEPTIBILITY TO AIR-POLLUTION OF EUROPEAN PINUS-SYLVESTRIS POPULATIONS FROM A IUFRO-1982 PROVENANCE EXPERIMENT

Results are presented of genetic variation and relation between geneti c parameters with growth, survival and needle necroses of 11 European Pinus sylvestris populations growing in a provenance experiment establ ished in 1984 in western Poland. One site was near a phosphate fertili zer factory, and other in an area free of acute air pollution. A signi ficant differences were found between studied sites in number of allel es per locus: expected and observed heterozygosity, genotype polymorph ism indices (all p < 0.1) and in tree height (p < 0.0001). On average all genetic parameters were higher for polluted site than for a contro l one. Differences in observed heterozygosity were related to height g rowth decline and plant mortality. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.