Iris, Tsipe, Aveliina and co-authors published a research paper examining the effects of landscape change on the genetic diversity of Primula veris (cowslip). The article found that the genetic diversity of P. veris populations was lower where more grassland had disappeared in the surrounding landscape over the past 80 years. In addition, genetic diversity was found to be higher where there have historically been more grassland edges. There were also fewer genetic differences between P. veris populations with historically higher proportion of grassland area between them. The stronger link between P. veris's genetic diversity and the historical landscape shows that genetic diversity has probably not yet responded to landscape changes, which means that with immediate actions it may be possible to preserve the still existing genetic diversity.
The open-access article can be found here.
Reinula, I., Träger, S., Hernández-Agramonte, I. M., Helm, A., Aavik, T. (2021). Landscape genetic analysis suggests stronger effects of past than current landscape structure on genetic patterns of Primula veris. Diversity and Distributions, xx.
