Abies alba -- Abies cephalonica complex as a model for the study of interspecific hybridization

The project focuses on the study of the processes of homoploid hybridization, introgression and hybrid swarm formation on a model example of a taxonomical complex within the genus Abies, having utmost economical and ecological importance. Silver fir is the most productive species of Europe. Stand mixtures of local fir, beech and spruce taxa in the Carpathians, Ponthic range or the Caucasus exhibit extraordinarily high biomass production. Silver fir is not threatened as a species, but experienced a large-scale decline, whose causes are still largely unknown.
Interspecific gene flow in the suture zones of ranges has lead to the formation of several hybridogenous populations, sometimes distinguished as separate taxa (A. borisii-regis, A. equii-trojani, A. vilmorinii etc.). Persistence of hybrid taxa and their high fitness highlight the creative power of hybridization and it importance as an evolutionary mechanism.
Mediterranean firs are sometimes used in Europe as a substitute of silver fir in drier and warmer conditions, and are planted in the vicinity of native populations. Considering an easy crossability, interspecific gene flow at such places may pose a severe threat for the gene pools of native silver fir.
The project focuses on the analysis of the spatial patterns of genetic variation within the A. alba -- A. cephalonica -- A. borisii-regis taxonomical complex using a combination of maternally inherited (mitochondrial) and biparentally inherited (nuclear) gene markers and neutral evolutionary mechanisms underlying the formation of the variation patterns (glacial refugia, extent of intraspecific and interspecific gene flow), identification of mechanisms contributing to the maintenance of the hybrid taxon A. borisii-regis, analysis of the extent of introgression of A. cephalonica into A. alba under natural conditions, and analysis of the extent of inflow of alien genes into A. alba under the conditions of an arboretum