Genetic diversity of Cypripedium calceolus in Poland

In this work we assessed the genetic diversity of 32 C. calceolus populations from Poland. Mean genetic diversity was moderate (P = 36.4%, A = 1.58, H (O) = 0.143, F (IS) = 0.059), and seven geographic regions did not differ significantly in their levels of polymorphism (p > 0.05), although allele frequencies varied greatly. Only four unique alleles were found, at three sites in southern and southeastern Poland. Genetic (P, A) and genotypic diversity parameters (G, G (U)) were significantly correlated with population size (p < 0.001). In the 32 studied populations we separated 422 different multilocus genotypes; none was common to all populations. Overall population differentiation was moderate at 0.137 (p < 0.001), but we found a significant pattern of isolation by distance for the whole dataset (r (2) = 0.65, p < 0.001). Our chloroplast DNA (cpDNA) results suggest a single evolutionary lineage and a common origin for all Polish C. calceolus populations. Information about the genetic health of C. calceolus populations should be useful in developing conservation strategies.