To learn more about the map elements, please download the "Pan-European strategy for genetic conservation of forest trees"
This distribution map has been developed by the European Commission Joint Research Centre (partly based on the EUFORGEN map) and released under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC-BY 4.0)
Caudullo, G., Welk, E., San-Miguel-Ayanz, J., 2017. Chorological maps for the main European woody species. Data in Brief 12, 662-666. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dib.2017.05.007
The following experts have contributed to the development of the EUFORGEN distribution maps:
Fazia Krouchi (Algeria), Hasmik Ghalachyan (Armenia), Thomas Geburek (Austria), Berthold Heinze (Austria), Rudi Litschauer (Austria), Rudolf Litschauer (Austria), Michael Mengl (Austria), Ferdinand Müller (Austria), Franz Starlinger (Austria), Valida Ali-zade (Azerbaijan), Vahid Djalal Hajiyev (Azerbaijan), Karen Cox (Belgium), Bart De Cuyper (Belgium), Olivier Desteucq (Belgium), Patrick Mertens (Belgium), Jos Van Slycken (Belgium), An Vanden Broeck (Belgium), Kristine Vander Mijnsbrugge (Belgium), Dalibor Ballian (Bosnia and Herzegovina), Alexander H. Alexandrov (Bulgaria), Alexander Delkov (Bulgaria), Ivanova Denitsa Pandeva (Bulgaria), Peter Zhelev Stoyanov (Bulgaria), Joso Gracan (Croatia), Marilena Idzojtic (Croatia), Mladen Ivankovic (Croatia), Željka Ivanović (Croatia), Davorin Kajba (Croatia), Hrvoje Marjanovic (Croatia), Sanja Peric (Croatia), Andreas Christou (Cyprus), Xenophon Hadjikyriacou (Cyprus), Václav Buriánek (Czech Republic), Jan Chládek (Czech Republic), Josef Frýdl (Czech Republic), Petr Novotný (Czech Republic), Martin Slovacek (Czech Republic), Zdenek Špišek (Czech Republic), Karel Vancura (Czech Republic), Ulrik Bräuner (Denmark), Bjerne Ditlevsen (Denmark), Jon Kehlet Hansen (Denmark), Jan Svejgaard Jensen (Denmark), Kalev Jðgiste (Estonia), Tiit Maaten (Estonia), Raul Pihu (Estonia), Ülo Tamm (Estonia), Arvo Tullus (Estonia), Aivo Vares (Estonia), Teijo Nikkanen (Finland), Sanna Paanukoski (Finland), Mari Rusanen (Finland), Pekka Vakkari (Finland), Leena Yrjänä (Finland), Daniel Cambon (France), Eric Collin (France), Alexis Ducousso (France), Bruno Fady (France), François Lefèvre (France), Brigitte Musch (France), Sylvie Oddou-Muratorio (France), Luc E. Pâques (France), Julien Saudubray (France), Marc Villar (France), Vlatko Andonovski (FYR Macedonia), Dragi Pop-Stojanov (FYR Macedonia), Merab Machavariani (Georgia), Irina Tvauri (Georgia), Alexander Urushadze (Georgia), Bernd Degen (Germany), Jochen Kleinschmit (Germany), Armin König (Germany), Armin König (Germany), Volker Schneck (Germany), Richard Stephan (Germany), H. H. Kausch-Blecken Von Schmeling (Germany), Georg von Wühlisch (Germany), Iris Wagner (Germany), Heino Wolf (Germany), Paraskevi Alizoti (Greece), Filippos Aravanopoulos (Greece), Andreas Drouzas (Greece), Despina Paitaridou (Greece), Aristotelis C. Papageorgiou (Greece), Kostas Thanos (Greece), Sándor Bordács (Hungary), Csaba Mátyás (Hungary), László Nagy (Hungary), Thröstur Eysteinsson (Iceland), Adalsteinn Sigurgeirsson (Iceland), Halldór Sverrisson (Iceland), John Fennessy (Ireland), Ellen O'Connor (Ireland), Fulvio Ducci (Italy), Silvia Fineschi (Italy), Bartolomeo Schirone (Italy), Marco Cosimo Simeone (Italy), Giovanni Giuseppe Vendramin (Italy), Lorenzo Vietto (Italy), Janis Birgelis (Latvia), Virgilijus Baliuckas (Lithuania), Kestutis Cesnavicius (Lithuania), Darius Danusevicius (Lithuania), Valmantas Kundrotas (Lithuania), Alfas Pliûra (Lithuania), Darius Raudonius (Lithuania), Robert du Fays (Luxembourg), Myriam Heuertz (Luxembourg), Claude Parini (Luxembourg), Fred Trossen (Luxembourg), Frank Wolter (Luxembourg), Joseph Buhagiar (Malta), Eman Calleja (Malta), Ion Palancean (Moldova), Dragos Postolache (Moldova), Gheorghe Postolache (Moldova), Hassan Sbay (Morocco), Tor Myking (Norway), Tore Skrøppa (Norway), Anna Gugala (Poland), Jan Kowalczyk (Poland), Czeslaw Koziol (Poland), Jan Matras (Poland), Zbigniew Sobierajski (Poland), Maria Helena Almeida (Portugal), Filipe Costa e Silva (Portugal), Luís Reis (Portugal), Maria Carolina Varela (Portugal), Ioan Blada (Romania), Alexandru-Lucian Curtu (Romania), Lucian Dinca (Romania), Georgeta Mihai (Romania), Mihai Olaru (Romania), Gheorghe Parnuta (Romania), Natalia Demidova (Russian Federation), Mikhail V. Pridnya (Russian Federation), Andrey Prokazin (Russian Federation), Srdjan Bojovic (Serbia) , Vasilije Isajev (Serbia), Saša Orlovic (Serbia), Rudolf Bruchánik (Slovakia), Roman Longauer (Slovakia), Ladislav Paule (Slovakia), Gregor Bozič (Slovenia), Robert Brus (Slovenia), Katarina Celič (Slovenia), Hojka Kraigher (Slovenia), Andrej Verlič (Slovenia), Marjana Westergren (Slovenia), Ricardo Alía (Spain), Josefa Fernández-López (Spain), Luis Gil Sanchez (Spain), Pablo Gonzalez Goicoechea (Spain), Santiago C. González-Martínez (Spain), Sonia Martin Albertos (Spain), Eduardo Notivol Paino (Spain), María Arantxa Prada (Spain), Alvaro Soto de Viana (Spain), Lennart Ackzell (Sweden), Jonas Bergquist (Sweden), Sanna Black-Samuelsson (Sweden), Jonas Cedergren (Sweden), Gösta Eriksson (Sweden), Markus Bolliger (Switzerland), Felix Gugerli (Switzerland), Rolf Holderegger (Switzerland), Peter Rotach (Switzerland), Marcus Ulber (Switzerland), Sven M.G. de Vries (The Netherlands), Khouja Mohamed Larbi (Tunisia), Murat Alan (Turkey), Gaye Kandemir (Turkey), Gursel Karagöz (Turkey), Zeki Kaya (Turkey), Hasan Özer (Turkey), Hacer Semerci (Turkey), Ferit Toplu (Turkey), Mykola M. Vedmid (Ukraine), Roman T. Volosyanchuk (Ukraine), Stuart A'Hara (United Kingdom), Joan Cottrell (United Kingdom), Colin Edwards (United Kingdom), Michael Frankis (United Kingdom), Jason Hubert (United Kingdom), Karen Russell (United Kingdom), C.J.A. Samuel (United Kingdom).
Status of Acer platanoides conservation in Europe
The genetic diversity of Norway maple is moderate for populations in Finland, at the edge of the species range, and is comparable to other long-lived hardwood species in scattered distributions (Lazic et al., 2022). Hardwoods can maintain higher genetic diversity than conifers in scattered distributions as hardwoods are better adapted to lower stand densities and have milder levels of inbreeding (Lazic et al., 2022). However, many populations of Norway maple show evidence of genetic bottlenecks and inbreeding. Low levels of genetic diversity in populations could be the result of human intervention on natural populations causing habitat fragmentation and inbreeding, or from establishing local populations from genetically poor plantations or imported material (Lazic et al., 2022). Norway maple may have the ability to produce viable seeds through apomixis, a form of asexual reproduction. This can lead to the development of genetically uniform stands.
Norway maple has been shown to have higher genetic differentiation than other maple species, with higher differentiation among populations than between them, but it has no geographic patterns of diversity (Rusanen, Vakkari, and Blom, 2000; Lazic et al., 2022). Some natural populations of Norway maple were also shown to have low genetic population differentiation (Lazic et al., 2022). High genetic differentiation is found in Finnish and Bosnian populations. These were strongly differentiated from Austrian populations, which are more like German and Hungarian populations (Lazic et al., 2022). This is significant as it may indicate Balkan populations did not have a significant role in postglacial recolonization of Europe.
The bibliographic review was conducted by James Chaplin of the EUFORGEN Secretariat in August 2024.
Trees at the margin of a species distribution often experience genetic drift as trees grow in smaller stands further apart from each other, reducing gene flow. This leads to lower genetic variability within and greater differentiation among marginal populations (Rusanen, Vakkari, and Blom, 2003). This is especially so for Norway maple as it is a colonizing species, capable of quickly establishing large populations from small genetic pools (Lamarque et al., 2014; Lazic et al., 2022). However, high levels of fragmentation throughout the species range does not lead to visible genetic divergence in most populations of Norway maple and genetic diversity of marginal and central populations did not differ significantly (Lazic et al., 2022).
Postglacial climate changes and prolonged human deforestation could mean the current distribution is the result of a contraction of a previously continuously distributed population, with marginal populations being remnants of a past more-continuous distribution, rather than an expansion from a distribution centre (Rusanen, Vakkari, and Blom, 2003; Ruņģis and Krivmane, 2021). Essentially, deforestation and fragmentation occurred too recently for genetic drift and differentiation to have an impact on the diversity and differentiation of populations because they have only been isolated for a few generations (Ruņģis and Krivmane, 2021; Lazic et al., 2022). This affects conservation management as it cannot be assumed that the centre of distribution contains all the genetic variation of the species. Thus, for a European-wide conservation programme of Norway maple, marginal populations should be sampled as well as the centre (Rusanen, Vakkari, and Blom, 2003).
The bibliographic review was conducted by James Chaplin of the EUFORGEN Secretariat in August 2024.
Conservation management of Norway maple genetic diversity in Europe involves mitigating threats such as competition from invasive species, climate change, and forest fragmentation, which is more of a threat for marginal northern populations than central populations (Lazic et al., 2022). This is especially true in Norway maple because its ecological narrowness, low seed dispersal, and low stand density increases its reproductive isolation.
Seed orchards are an excellent option to preserve diversity and provide proper forest reproductive material (FRM) using sufficient sample sizes and clones (Lazic et al., 2022). This is because human-mediated introductions of FRM from foreign sources by nurseries for use in urban landscaping or establishing ex situ stands is impacting the genetic diversity of the species. Low demand and value for the species means most FRM is imported. This can result in the use of maladapted sources and of FRM with low genetic diversity. This could have long-term negative effects on gene flow and survival of scattered populations, so it is best to use regional sources and conserve native gene pools (Lazic et al., 2022).
The bibliographic review was conducted by James Chaplin of the EUFORGEN Secretariat in August 2024.
Genetic Characterisation of Acer platanoides and its GCUs
Availability of FRM
FOREMATIS
Noble Hardwoods Network: Report of the second meeting
Noble Hardwoods Network: Report of the first meeting
Contacts of experts
NA
Further reading
Akhmetov, A., Ianbaev, R., Boronnikova, S., Yanbaev, Y., Gabitova, A., and Kulagin, A. 2021. Norway maple (Acer platanoides) and pedunculate oak (Quercus robur) demonstrate different patterns of genetic variation within and among populations on the eastern border of distribution ranges. Journal of Forest Science, 67: 522–532.
Eriksson, G., Black-samuelsson, S., Jensen, M., Myking, T., Rusanen, M., Skrøppa, T., Vakkari, P., and Westergaard, L. 2003. Genetic variability in two tree species, Acer platanoides L. and Betula pendula Roth, with contrasting life-history traits. Scandinavian Journal of Forest Research, 18: 320–331.
References
Lamarque, L.J., Lortie, C.J., Porté, A.J., and Delzon, S. 2014. Genetic differentiation and phenotypic plasticity in life-history traits between native and introduced populations of invasive maple trees. Biological Invasions, 17: 1109–1122.
Lazic, D., George, J.-P., Rusanen, M., Ballian, D., Pfattner, S., and Konrad, H. 2022. Population differentiation in Acer platanoides L. at the regional scale—Laying the basis for effective conservation of its genetic resources in Austria. Forests, 13(4): 552. doi.org/10.3390/f13040552
Ruņģis, D.E. and Krivmane, B. 2021. Assessment of the structure and diversity of Latvian Acer platanoides populations using cross-species nuclear microsatellite markers. Proceedings of the Latvian Academy of Sciences. Section B, Natural, Exact and Applied Sciences, 75: 254–260.
Rusanen, M., Vakkari, P., and Blom, Å., 2000. Evaluation of the Finnish gene-conservation strategy for Norway maple (Acer platanoides L.) in the light of allozyme variation. Forest Genetics, 7(3): 155–165.
Rusanen, M., Vakkari, P., and Blom, A., 2003. Genetic structure of Acer platanoides and Betula pendula in northern Europe. Canadian Journal of Forest Research, 33: 1110–1115.
See details
Designed by Newtvision
