Allozyme analysis of the mating system in lodgepole pine populations

Abstract

The mating system was investigated in two natural populations of lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta ssp. latifolia). Single- and multilocus estimates of outcrossing rates were not statistically different from 1.0, indicating that both populations were nearly 100 percent outcrossing. Wright's fixation index was near zero in both the mature trees and their seed. This result and the homogeneity of the single-locus estimates suggest that the assumptions made in the mixed mating system model were not substantially violated in the populations studied. This is in contrast to other studies of the mating system in out-crossing species in which significant departures from random mating have been observed.