Project description. In biodiversity conservation, protection of species diversity has gained most attention (IUCN Red List) while considerably less attention has been drawn to genetic diversity within species, partly because of methodological constraints. In small isolated populations, genetic variation is lost due to genetic drift. Genetic variation is vital for the potential for adaptation to changes in the abiotic and biotic environment as well as protecting populations from inbreeding depression. Restoration of species in areas where they are currently extinct, may increase the connectivity between populations and increase the total population size resulting in reduced loss of genetic diversity. Conservation genetics is a well-established interdisciplinary science that applies genetic methods to the conservation and restoration of biodiversity. Although many fungal species are sensitive to habitat fragmentation, especially loss of old growth forests, few conservation genetic studies have focused on fungi, partly because of its hidden life style belowground or within substrates. The few studies focusing on the genetic variation in wood decay fungi in Fennoscandia (Kauserud & Schumacher, 2001; 2002;2003; H?gberg et al.1999; H?gberg and Stenlid 1999; Franzén et al. 2007) have been hampered by methodological limitations, most importantly that only a limited number of DNA loci have been investigated. Restriction-site associated DNA (RAD) sequencing technique takes advantage of new high-throughput sequencing technologies and delivers high-resolution population genomic data with thousands of markers distributed across the genomes (Baird et al. 2008). In this project, using RADseq, the candidate will investigate how loss and fragmentation of habitats at different spatial scales have influenced genetic variation in two congeneric Phellinus species: P. nigrolimitatus and P. viticola. The former has been more negatively affected by forestry in Fennoscandia. The two-main research questions that the candidate will address are (i) Does the level of genetic variation in the two Phellinus species vary throughout Fennoscandia? and (ii) Is genetic variation distributed differently in non-red-listed and red-listed species.
Method. After training in molecular-based techniques such as DNA extraction and library preparation methods for RADsequencing, the candidate will process 150 samples from P. viticola. The sequencing data will first be analyzed using bioinformatics programs (Stacks, Bowtie, SAMtools, VCFtools) to generate SNPs. Using different population genetics software (FineRADStructure, Popgenome) the genome-wide markers will be used to infer the genetic structure, determine gene flow and reveal patterns of dispersal at different spatial scales and statistics analyses mainly in R. Analysed data will