Genetic differentiation in Scottish populations of the pine beauty moth, Panolis flammea (Lepidoptera : Noctuidae)

Pine beauty moth, Panolis flammea (Denis & Schiffermuller), is a recent but persistent pest of lodgepole pine plantations in Scotland, but exists naturally at low levels within remnants and plantations of Scots pine. To test whether separate host races occur in lodgepole and Scots pine stands and to examine colonization dynamics, allozyme, randomly amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) and mitochondrial variation were screened within a range of Scottish samples. RAPD analysis indicated limited long distance dispersal (F-ST=0.099), and significant isolation by distance (P < 0.05); but that colonization between more proximate populations was often variable, from extensive to limited exchange. When compared with material from Germany, Scottish samples were found to be more diverse and significantly differentiated for all markers. For mtDNA, two highly divergent groups of haplotypes were evident, one group contained both German and Scottish samples and the other was predominantly Scottish. No genetic differentiation was evident between P. flammea populations sampled from different hosts, and no diversity bottleneck was observed in the lodgepole group. Indeed, lodgepole stands appear to have been colonized on multiple occasions from Scots pine sources and neighbouring populations on different hosts are close to panmixia.

Contrasting quantitative traits and neutral genetic markers for genetic resource assessment of Mesoamerican Cedrela odorata

We compared within-population variability and degree of population differentiation for neutral genetic markers (RAPDS) and eight quantitative traits in Central American populations of the endangered tree, Cedrela odorata. Whilst population genetic diversity for neutral markers (Shannon index) and quantitative traits (heritability, coefficient of additive genetic variation) were uncorrelated, both marker types revealed strong differentiation between populations from the Atlantic coast of Costa Rica and the rest of the species' distribution. The degree of interpopulation differentiation was higher for RAPD markers (F-ST 0.67 for the sampled Mesoamerican range) than for quantitative traits (Q(ST) = 0.30). Hence, the divergence in quantitative traits was lower than could have been achieved by genetic drift alone, suggesting that balancing selection for similar phenotypes in different populations of this species. Nevertheless, a comparison of pair-wise estimates of population differentiation in neutral genetic markers and quantitative traits revealed a strong positive correlation (r = 0.66) suggesting that, for C. odorata, neutral marker divergence could be used as a surrogate for adaptive gene divergence for conservation planning. The utility of this finding and suggested further work are discussed.