Genetic variability of bilaterally symmetrical fruits of Norway maple in function of species biodiversity conservation

Abstract

Parkway trees in urban environments have a pivotal ecological role, primarily because they modify microclimatological parameters. Norway maple is a suitable species for these purposes since it is very adaptable to city conditions. This characteristic of Norway maple allows urban trees to be used as a basis for biodiversity conservation. Bilaterally symmetrical fruits of Norway maple are particularly convenient for the exploration of developmental stability and the role of genetic and environment in variability of morphological characteristics of Norway maple. Variability change through different conditions could be used for creation of a scale that could serve to predict morphology of Norway maple in different environments. The differences between fruits collected from 4 locations show great variability of the species, but the size and appearance of the fruits are in accordance with literature data and do not deviate in any group of samples. Despite similar normal distributions of groups, the fruits differ significantly, although these variations are not consequences of a cause-and-effect connection between environment and appearance of fruits. Variability of samples taken from the urban environment does not differ from variability of samples taken from natural habitats. The large variability of Norway maple is expected since it has a wide ecological amplitude as well as a small plasticity, which is typical of species adapted to shadowy conditions. The great variability of fruit morphology within each individual is typical of Norway maple, so these could be used as representatives of the population in which they are grown. In this paper it is shown that the differences found between fruits are the result of genetic variations mosaic; that is, they are different ecotypes of Norway maple, since bilaterally symmetrical fruits do not have significantly different left and right sides, which shows the developmental stability of Norway maple.