Is Pollen Production of Birch Controlled by Genetics and Local Conditions?

Surendra Ranpal, Miriam Sieverts, Verena Wörl, Georgia Kahlenberg, Stefanie Gilles, Maria Landgraf, Kira Köpke, Franziska Kolek, Daria Luschkova, Tobias Heckmann, Claudia Traidl-Hoffmann, Carmen Büttner, Athanasios Damialis and Susanne Jochner-Oette
Additional contact information
Surendra Ranpal: Physical Geography/Landscape Ecology and Sustainable Ecosystem Development, Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt, 85072 Eichstätt, Germany
Miriam Sieverts: Physical Geography/Landscape Ecology and Sustainable Ecosystem Development, Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt, 85072 Eichstätt, Germany
Verena Wörl: Physical Geography/Landscape Ecology and Sustainable Ecosystem Development, Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt, 85072 Eichstätt, Germany
Georgia Kahlenberg: Physical Geography/Landscape Ecology and Sustainable Ecosystem Development, Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt, 85072 Eichstätt, Germany
Stefanie Gilles: Environmental Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Augsburg, 86156 Augsburg, Germany
Maria Landgraf: Division Phytomedicine, Albrecht Daniel Thaer-Institute for Crop and Animal Sciences, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, 10099 Berlin, Germany
Kira Köpke: Division Phytomedicine, Albrecht Daniel Thaer-Institute for Crop and Animal Sciences, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, 10099 Berlin, Germany
Franziska Kolek: Environmental Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Augsburg, 86156 Augsburg, Germany
Daria Luschkova: Environmental Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Augsburg, 86156 Augsburg, Germany
Tobias Heckmann: Department of Physical Geography, Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt, 85072 Eichstätt, Germany
Claudia Traidl-Hoffmann: Environmental Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Augsburg, 86156 Augsburg, Germany
Carmen Büttner: Division Phytomedicine, Albrecht Daniel Thaer-Institute for Crop and Animal Sciences, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, 10099 Berlin, Germany
Athanasios Damialis: Environmental Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Augsburg, 86156 Augsburg, Germany
Susanne Jochner-Oette: Physical Geography/Landscape Ecology and Sustainable Ecosystem Development, Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt, 85072 Eichstätt, Germany

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 13, 1-18

Abstract: Intraspecific genetic variation might limit the relevance of environmental factors on plant traits. For example, the interaction between genetics and (a-)biotic factors regulating pollen production are still poorly understood. In this study, we investigated pollen production of 28 birch ( Betula pendula Roth) individuals in the years 2019–2021. We sampled catkins of eleven groups of genetically identical trees, which were partially topped, but of the same age and located in a seed plantation in southern Germany characterized by similar microclimatic conditions. Furthermore, we monitored environmental factors such as air temperature, characterized air quality (NO 2 , NO x and O 3 ), and assessed potential solar radiation. We especially checked for differences between years as well as between and within clones and assessed the synchronicity of years with high/low pollen production. We present a robust mean for the pollen production of Betula pendula (1.66 million pollen grains per catkin). Our findings show temporal (H(2) = 46.29, p < 0.001) and clonal variations (H(4) = 21.44, p < 0.001) in pollen production. We conclude that synchronized high or low pollen production is not utterly site-specific and, in addition, not strictly dependent on genotypes. We suggest that appropriate clone selection based on application (seed plantation, urban planting) might be advantageous and encourage a long-term monitoring.

Keywords: Betula pendula; genotypes; reproduction; seed orchard (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/13/8160/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/13/8160/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:13:p:8160-:d:854842

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().