Genetic structure of populations of the native species Salvinia natans L. progressing in Belarus

The article presents the results of a study on the genetic diversity and structure of seven populations of Salvinia natans L. in Belarus, in both the natural (Pinsk, Mukhavets, Strelsk, and Rogachev) and progressing (Kamenets, Krivoshin, and Shchara) parts of the range. Using molecular iPBS markers, the study found that the natural populations of Pinsk and Mukhavets populations have the highest level of genetic diversity, and the island population of Kamenets is characterized by genetic impoverishment. Low rates of genetic diversity are also characteristic of other populations located in island localities (Krivoshin, Shchara) and on the northern (Rogachev) border of the Salvinia natans L. range. The study revealed that the level of interpopulation variability was lower than intrapopulation variability (22 and 78 %, respectively). The PhiPT value of 0.22 indicates significant genetic differences among the populations. For the studied species, the gene flow level is 0.80, which is an average value and is probably due to the specificity of reproduction of this species as a spore plant. Analysis of genetic distances showed that the lowest Nei distance (0.11) was observed between the Pinsk and Shchara populations, and the highest (0.21) between the Strelsk and Krivoshin populations. This is generally consistent with their geographic location. The ward.D2 analysis, based on Nei’s distance matrix, confirms these results and demonstrates that the studied populations are divided into two main clusters, corresponding to their location in the Pripyat and Zapadnyj Bug river basins. The obtained experimental data show that, given global warming, the range of Salvinia natans L. will continue to expand northward. However, the probability of expansive properties of this species in newly developed territories remains low due to the insignificant genetic diversity of border populations and a fairly low level of gene flow between them.