Data from: Effects of forest plantations on the genetic composition of conspecific native Aleppo pine populations

Afforestation is a common and widespread management practice throughout
the world, yet its implications for the genetic diversity of native
populations are still poorly understood. We examined the effect of Aleppo
pine (Pinus halepensis) plantations on the genetic composition of nearby
conspecific native populations. We focused on two native populations in
Israel with different levels of isolation from the surrounding plantations
and compared the genetic diversity of naturally established young trees
within the native populations with that of local native adults, using nine
nuclear microsatellite markers. We found that the genetic composition of
the recruits was significantly different from that of local adults in both
populations, with allelic frequency changes between generations that could
not be ascribed to random drift, but rather to substantial gene flow from
the surrounding planted Aleppo pine populations. The more isolated
population experienced a lower gene flow level (22%) than the less
isolated population (49%). The genetic divergence between native
populations at the adult-tree stage (Fst = 0.32) was more than twice as
high as that of the young trees naturally established around native adults
(Fst = 0.15). Our findings provide evidence for a rapid genetic
homogenization process of native populations following the massive
planting efforts in the last decades. These findings have important
implications for forest management and nature conservation and constitute
a warning sign for the risk of translocation of biota for local
biodiversity.

造林是全球范围内普遍且广泛应用的森林经营管理手段，但其对本土种群遗传多样性的影响仍未得到充分解析。本研究聚焦阿勒颇松（Pinus halepensis）人工林对邻近同种本土种群遗传组成的影响，选取以色列境内两处与周边人工林隔离程度不同的本土种群作为研究对象，采用9个核微卫星标记，对比了本土种群内天然更新幼树与当地本土成树的遗传多样性。研究发现，两处种群的天然更新幼树遗传组成均与当地成树存在显著差异：代际间的等位基因频率变化并非由随机遗传漂变导致，而是源于周边人工种植阿勒颇松种群的大量基因交流。隔离程度更高的种群其基因流水平（22%）低于隔离程度更低的种群（49%）。本土成树种群间的遗传分化系数（Fst = 0.32）是本土成树周边天然更新幼树种群间遗传分化系数（Fst = 0.15）的两倍以上。本研究结果证实，近数十年大规模造林活动后，本土种群正经历快速的遗传均质化过程。上述研究结果对森林经营与自然保护具有重要指导意义，同时也为当地生物多样性保护中生物迁移所带来的风险敲响了警钟。