engleski

Population variability of sweet chestnut (Castanea sativa Mill.) in Croatia according to the fruit morphology

Morphological variation of the fruit was studied in a multipurpose tree species, Castanea sativa Mill., across the Croatian continental and Mediterranean bio-geographical regions. A total of 12 sweet chestnut populations from environmentally divergent habitats were included in the study. Descriptive and multivariate statistical methods were combined using seven morphological fruit traits to examine the diversity and structure of sweet chestnut populations. The results clearly demonstrated a high phenotypic diversity of sweet chestnut populations in Croatia. In addition, the existence of two morphologically distinct and well-defined groups of sweet chestnut populations was observed. Nevertheless, the results were not entirely consistent with the bio-geographical distribution of the researched species. Rather, they indicated that the morphological variability of sweet chestnut populations in Croatia is the result of both environmental heterogeneity and significant and lengthy human impact.

bio-geographical regions ; environmental heterogeneity ; intra- and inter-population variability ; morphometric analysis ; phenotypic diversity

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