I have studied the genetic variation of single species using morphological variation and enzyme electrophoresis. I have striven to understand the interaction between the breeding structure and the ecology of the species in relation to the community, in which it lives. The work was done in the county of Västerbotten, northern Sweden. In the Skeppsvik archipelago I have studied the population structure of Silene dioica: ecotypic variation in other populations. I have also studied the genetic diversity of Angelica archangelica, Bistorta vivipara, Viscaria alpina and the earthworm Eiseniella tetraedra along the free-flowing Vindel and Sävar Rivers and the regulated Urne River. The island populations of S. dioica are subdivided into several breeding units and levels of differentiation among subpopulations within islands were about twice as high as among islands. Restricted seed and pollen dispersal creates patches made up of related individuals that may diverge as a result of drift. Frequent seed and pollen dispersal occurs among islands and they will receive the same alleles. This may explain the pattern of differentiation observed. In contrast, the patches within islands may be founded by only a few individuals. * S. dioica exhibits morphological differentiation in vegetative and floral characters between serpentine, cold spring, rich forest and coastal habitats. There was no association between  genetic and geographical distance or between genetic distance and habitat. Serpentine and cold spring, which represented the most extreme habitats were also most differentiated. Populations of S. dioica are subject to herbivory; predation may exert a selective pressure on vegetative characters. A number of selective forces such as pollinators and fungal parasites act on reproductive characters. Assuming that water dispersal is important I tested several hypotheses to explain patterns of genetic diversity expected to be exhibited by riparian organisms along free-flowing and regulated rivers. I show that dispersal, distribution and breeding structure are important determinants of the evolution of the riparian flora. Patterns of genetic diversity may be exhibited at many spatial scales, e.g. among entire rivers, and between types of riverbanks within a river reach. Populations must be sampled at a spatial scale relevant to the hypothesis to be tested. / <p>Diss. (sammanfattning) Umeå : Umeå universitet, 2002, härtill 5 uppsatser.</p> / digitalisering@umu

The Kiruna mining district, located in the northern Norrbotten ore province, Sweden, is a geologically and economically important area, being the type-locality for Kiruna iron oxide-apatite (IOA) deposits and also host to a variety of other deposits including syngenetic stratiform exhalative Cu-(Fe-Zn) (Viscaria, Eastern Pahtohavare), epigenetic stratabound Cu ± Au (Pahtohavare), and iron oxide-copper-gold (IOCG, Rakkurijärvi) deposits. However, the timing of IOA versus IOCG within the tectonic evolution is in question based on structural investigations showing Cu- and Fe-sulfides occur in late-orogenic structures. Here we use an established tectonic framework to constrain mineral systems (tectonic/thermal drives, metal and ligand sources, fluid pathways, traps, remobilization mechanisms) related to the early and late phases of the Svecokarelian orogeny in the Kiruna mining district. U-Pb zircon geochronology of intrusions in the district indicates a thermal drive was present during the early phase of the Svecokarelian orogeny from ca. 1920-1865 Ma, however remains enigmatic for the late Svecokarelian orogeny. Zircon grains from a magnetite-ilmenite gabbro yielded an age of 1881 ± 8 Ma, coeval with the Kiirunavaara IOA deposit and suggested to represent an important generation of mafic magmatism related to the ore. Lithogeochemistry of early bimodal Svecokarelian intrusions in the district indicates a within-plate to active continental margin environment with a volcanic arc affinity, pointing to a back arc environment. Epsilon Ndi and 87Sr/86Sri values calculated from the U-Pb ages for the igneous intrusions were compared to samples of ore-related alteration from epigenetic Pahtohavare and Rakkurijärvi deposits, district greenstone, and Archean samples. Results show that each deposit sourced Sr and Nd from a variety of rocks suggesting broad fluid transport. Each deposit has a distinct Sr mixing trend suggesting they formed from different ore-forming fluids and pathways. This is supported by new structural data that constrain the folding event and the ore-related quartz-carbonate-sulfide veins in the Pahtohavare area to a late orogenic timing, compared to the early orogenic timing of Rakkurijärvi. Sulfide trace element and sulfur isotope data from structurally constrained ores within the tectonic framework also record distinct characteristics between early and late deposits. However, remobilization of early Pahtohavare sulfides associated to an increase in Co content and heavier sulfur isotope compositions is recorded. The results of this study illustrate that using a structural framework approach to constrain the ingredients of mineral systems is a powerful strategy for interpreting ore deposit processes in tectonically complex terrains where both IOA and IOCG deposits occur.

Syftet med studien var att undersöka effekter på frögroning i form av procentuell frögroning och mean germination time (MGT) för några vanligt förekommande vägkantsväxter till följd av saltning av vägar. Frön från (Prunella vulgaris), getväppling (Anthyllis vulneraria), grått saltgräs (Puccinella distans), grässtjärnblomma (Stellaria graminea) och tjärblomster (Viscaria vulgaris) fördelades i petriskålar och utsattes för mannitol- och natriumkloridlösningar av osmotisk potential -0,3, -0,6 och -0,9 MPa. Mannitol användes för att skilja osmotiska effekter från joniska effekter som natriumklorid ger upphov till. Kontroller med avjoniserat vatten visade frögroning i frånvaro av osmotiska- och joniska effekter. Den procentuella frögroningen var högst i kontrollerna för samtliga arter och minskade med en lägre osmotisk potential. Tjärblomster visade sig gro bäst under samtliga behandlingar. Lägst procentuell groning hade grått saltgräs och grässtjärnblomma. Det tog längre tid för alla arter att gro under en lägre osmotisk potential. Tjärblomster och getväppling visade sig mest känsliga mot abiotiska förändringar och grodde långsammast i förhållande till kontroller för respektive art. Vilket ämne som fröna utsattes för hade ingen påverkan på procentuell groning och MGT, vilket tyder på att det är osmotiska effekter som påverkar arternas frögroning. / The aim of this study was to investigate effects of lowered osmotic potential and osmotic agents on seedling germination and mean germination time (MGT) of some common roadside plants. Seeds of Prunella vulgaris, Anthyllis vulneraria, Puccinella distans, Stellaria graminea and Viscaria vulgaris were distributed in petri dishes and exposed to mannitol and sodium chloride solutions with osmotic potential of -0.3, - 0.6 and -0.9 MPa. Mannitol was used to distinguish osmotic effects from ionic effects caused by sodium chloride. Controls with distilled water showed germination in the absence of osmotic and ionic effects. The percentage of emerged seedlings were highest in controls for all species and decreased with a lower osmotic potential. Viscaria vulgaris had the highest percentage of emerged seedlings across all treatments. The lowest percentage of emerged seedlings had Puccinella distans and Stellaria graminea. It took longer time for all species to germinate under a lower osmotic potential. Viscaria vulgaris and Anthyllis vulneraria turned out to be most sensitive to abiotic changes and grew slowest in relation to controls. There was no difference in the impact of the osmotic agent on percentage germination and MGT, indicating that it is mainly the osmotic effect that affects the seed germination.

Heliosperma (nom. cons prop.) comprises 15—20 taxa, most of them endemic to the Balkan Peninsula. DNA sequences from the chloroplast (rps16 intron, psbE-petG spacer) and the nuclear genome (ITS and four putatively unlinked RNA polymerase genes) are used to elucidate phylogenetic relationships within Heliosperma, and its position within Sileneae. Three main lineages are found within Heliosperma: Heliosperma alpestre, H. macranthum and the H. pusillum-clade. The relationships among the lineages differ between the plastid and the nuclear trees. Relative dates are used to discriminate among inter- and intralineage processes causing such incongruences, and ancient homoploid hybridisation is the most likely explanation. The chloroplast data strongly support two, geographically correlated clades in the H. pusillum-group, whereas the relationships appear poorly resolved by the ITS data, when analysed under a phylogenetic tree model. However, a network analysis finds a geographic structuring similar to that in the chloroplast data. Ancient vicariant divergence followed by hybridisation events best explains the observed pattern. The morphological and taxonomical diversity in the H. pusillum-group is possibly ecology-induced, and is not correlated with the molecular data. Phylogenetic patterns regarding the origin of Heliosperma are complicated, probably influenced by reticulate and sorting events. At least two ancient lineages have been involved in its evolution, one most closely related to Viscaria/Atocion and the other to Eudianthe/Petrocoptis. Atocion and Viscaria are sister genera, most species-rich on the Balkans, and including six/three species. Phylogenies do not support their traditional classification, and provide a framework for a taxonomic revision. Atocion compactum is found in three different positions in the chloroplast tree, and in a single clade in the nuclear gene trees. Using relative dates we demonstrate that hybridisation with subsequent chloroplast capture is a feasible explanation for the pattern observed. This, and other observed reticulate patterns, highlights the importance of hybridisation in plant evolution.