Kızılçam’da (Pınus Brutıa Ten.) Yangınla İlişkili Karakterlerin Popülasyonlar Arası Değişkenliği ve Bu Değişkenliği Ortaya Çıkartan Faktörler

Abstract

In Mediterranean type ecosystems, Pinus genus species have many characters adapt to fire regimes. These characters are known to have variability between species, geographic areas, populations, and even individuals. In this thesis, the variability of the fire-related characters, serotiny level, bark thickness and self-pruning and the relations of these variations with fire regimes, altitudes and climatic factors investigated in different scales at Turkish Red Pines (Pinus brutia Ten.) which have a natural distribution in Anatolia. Additionally, the broad-sense heritability of the characters, the populations' genetic structure depend on the spatial scales and genetic diversity studied with genetic methods. The study results show that Turkish Red Pine has a relatively low serotiny level, a thick bark, and signs of self-pruning characters. These fire- related characters showed significant differences in all spatial scales. The variability of the characters is also related to some climatic factors. Based on fire-related characters' variability, elevation zones can explain fire regimes in the Muğla region, but not in the Kaş region. Turkish Red Pine has a high genetic diversity, and there are elements belonging to five ancestral populations in its genetic structure. It has been shown that the serotiny ratio (Muğla, H2 = 0.197), bark thickness (whole study area H2 = 0,287, Kaş H2 = 0,078), and the self-pruning (Muğla sites, H2 = 0,145) have signs of broad-sense heritability. Also, ıt has been suggested that the fire-related characters' spatial variatons may have arisen due to phenotypic flexibility or a selection effect leading to heterogeneity. In this study, it has been shown that the variability of fire-related characters is caused by climatic factors and fire regimes rather than genetic variation.