Results are presented of an investigation into the biodiversity of Trifolium L. present in the Republic of Turkey The aim of the project is to provide the information required for planning conservation of 0 Turkish Thfolium germplasm both in situ and ex situ. Diversity contained within the genus is investigated at several levels; species distributions, taxonomic relationships between the species, and for selected taxa diversity between populations is investigated. Interactive, computer based identification aids and a traditional dichotomous key to the relevant species are presented. Distributions of the Trifolium species that occur in Turkey were investigated by compiling a set of georeferenced data from a variety of sources. The data were obtained from herbarium labels, donated by genebanks, collected during fieldwork and taken from the literature. A database formed from the merged data sets was used to create species distribution maps. Ecological information contained in the database is summarised in tabulated form species by species giving altitude ranges, habitat descriptions and soil characteristics of the specimen collection sites. Areas are identified from the distribution maps in which few germplasm samples have been collected, and therefore should be prioritised for future germplasm collecting activities. The priority areas include eastern central Anatolia (Sivas, Yozgat and Kayseri provinces), the province of Istanbul, Turkey-in-Europe (particularly Edirne and Kirklareli) and the regions north and south of Ankara. The species richness coefficient for Trifolium species in Turkey is at a maximum in the provinces of Istanbul, Izmir, Mugla, Usak, Hatay and Gaziantep. Extensive germplasm collections have taken place in all these provinces, except Istanbul. Several of the species recorded as occurring in the province of Istanbul are known in Turkey from a very small number of herbarium specimens that were collected in the nineteenth or early twentieth century. Classification of the provinces of Turkey into six ecogeographical regions on the basis of recorded Trifolium species identifies three well defined groups one occurrjng on the Mediterranean and Aegean coasts, another inland in western Turkey and one in eastern Turkey. Many of the provinces that are not included in any of these well-defined clusters have been under-collected for Trifolium. A morphological data set relating to ninety-seven Trifolium species was collected from herbarium specimens and the literature. Species included in the analysis comprise all those that occur in Turkey, which is at the centre of diversity for the genus. The data set was analysed to study infrageneric relationships of Trifolium taxa, and the results'obtained were compared with previously published taxonomies. Generally, species groupings proposed by previous authors were supported by the phenetic analysis. The differences between the clusters obtained in this study and previous taxonomies occurred within sections Trifolium, Chronosemium Ser. and Lotoidea Crantz. Several changes to the division of section Trifolium into subsections and of section Chronosemium into series are suggested. The analysis also indicates that section Lotoidea should be split into at least two sections. Living specimens of thirteen annual species of Trifolium section Trifolium where characterised morphologically. The specimens were raised in a randomised design and were characterised using quantitative traits. All accessions were of Turkish origin. The data are analysed to investigate variation between the test species using multivariate analysis of variance and cluster analysis. The species groupings obtained are discussed with reference to previous taxonomic treatments. Some of the results obtained from the herbarium-based data set are supported. The suggestions that section Trifolium subsection Lappacea should be divided and that T. sylvaticum should be removed from subsection Stellata are supported. Species of subsections Echinata, Squamosa and Clypeata clustered closely together, which agrees with the suggestions that these subsections should be merged. Several populations were raised of each of five Trifolium section Trifolium species, namely T. purpureum, T. echinatum, T. hirtum, T. angustifolium and T. cherleri. The geographic origin is known for most of these populations, and differences between populations with respect to their origins are discussed. Significant differences occurred between almost all populations raised, suggesting that variation between populations is high for these species. An interactive, computer based key to the ninety-seven species of Trifolium L. occurring in Turkey was created. Traditional dichotomous keys constructed using the same data set are also presented. Data were collected from herbarium specimens, living specimens and literature sources. Herbarium specimens were available for all but five of the species. An average of 135 morphological characters was scored per species, including vegetative, flowering and fruiting characters. The data were coded in DELTA format (which has been endorsed by the International Union of Biological Sciences Commission on Taxonomic Databases). This new interactive key has several advantages over traditional dichotomous keys to Trifolium, including limited usage of technical terms, and use of illustrations. In addition, photographic images of more than 80% of the taxa are contained within the interactive key. Full descriptions of the taxa are also available within the key. The interactive key files are available to download from the Institute of Grassland and Environmental Research web site (HTTP://www.igergru.bbsrc.ac.uk/).
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:633217 |
| Date | January 1998 |
| Creators | Lamont, Emma-Jane |
| Publisher | University of Birmingham |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
Page generated in 0.0029 seconds