Variation patterns of mitochondrial DNA of Abies alba Mill. in suture zones of postglacial migration in Europe

Thirty silver fir populations originating from the putative suture zones of the postglacial recolonization (Slovenia, Bosnia and Hercegovina, Ukraine) were studied using a mitochondrial nad5-4 gene marker. The geographical distribution of mtDNA haplotypes in the Ukrainian Carpathians and their northern foothills indicates a very recent meeting of migration streams arriving from the Romanian Carpathians and Central Europe. In the western part of the Balkan Peninsula. two counterparallel migration streams are the most plausible explanation of the pattern observed. The haplotype typical for the Balkan Peninsula predominates along the Adrian coast, whereas the Central-European haplotype is more represented in the inland.