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Project Detail

Endangered plant species in the Southern Bug enclave (Ukraine): genetics, evolutionary history and biogeography

Name: Endangered plant species in the Southern Bug enclave (Ukraine): genetics, evolutionary history and biogeography
Researchers: Bartiš Igor (head – principal researcher)
Provider: EMBO
Number: 5449-2023 EMBO
Realization from: 2024
Realization to: 2024
Summary: Сrystalic outcrops in the Southern Bug river basin are one of Eurasia's oldest landmasses. The S. Bug granite flora is possibly connected to Ancient Mediterranean as one of the centres of floristic diversity because a group of plant species with disjunctive home ranges is distributed in the Bug region and in Balkans. The ranges of rare species are currently decreasing. Moehringia hypanica (Caryophyllaceae) is the rarest and most threatened plant species of S. Bug’s outcrops. It has only five populations in the world, the complete range is 25 sq. km, and the overall number of plants is around five thousand individuals. Although the species is listed in Resolution 6 of the Bern Convention, little known about it due to its local distribution. Its populations are declining, and the cultivation in the open ground was unsuccessful. We will study phylogeography of M. hypanica and all 12 species of the genus Moehringia that are found in the Balkans. We will establish phylogenetic and phylogeographical relationships between these species, and estimate the ages of disjunctions within Balkans and between the Balkan and Bug regions. We will determine morphological characters useful for recognition of natural groups of populations in the field. We will localize the most likely centres of origin of each natural taxon. We will estimate and compare genetic diversity within all populations of M. hypanica and within representative samples of populations of its closest relatives from Balkans. We will determine centres of genetic diversity for all sampled species. This information will help to develop measures for efficient conservation of the endemic taxa. M. hypanica is unevenly distributed on visually identical rocks. Plants are most vulnerable in the early stages of ontogenetic development and perish en masse in dry years. Under conditions of climatic chambers, we will determine the norms of light, humidity and temperature, for further reintroduction.

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