Intraspecific and interspecific gene exchange between forest tree populations as mechanisms of microevolution

The project focuses on intraspecific and interspecific gene exchange among populations as microevolutionary mechanisms and processes associated with reticulate relationships in tree species phylogeny. Intraspecific homoploid hybridization and introgression will be studied in hybrid zone of Abies alba in the Carpathians. The model for interspecific hybridization will be the complex of fir of sections Abies a Piceaster in eastern Mediterranean and central European oaks of subg. Lepidobalanus, where the project focuses also on mechanisms maintaining species integrity under sympatry. Mechanisms of alloploid hybridization leading to speciation will be assessed in the complex of cetral-European hybridogenous Sorbus taxa, study will focus on genetic variation and phylogeny.