Population genetics of the wood-rotting basidiomycete Armillaria cepistipes in a fragmented forest landscape

Armillaria cepistipes is a common wood-rotting basidiomycete fungus found in most forests in Central Europe. In Switzerland, the habitat of A. cepistipes is fragmented because of the presence of major geographical barriers, in particular the Alps, and past deforestation. We analysed the impact of habitat fragmentation on the current spatial genetic structure of the Swiss A. cepistipes population. A total of 167 isolates were sampled across an area of 41 000km2 and genotyped at seven microsatellite and four single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) loci. All isolates belonged to different genotypes which, according to the Bayesian clustering algorithm implemented in Tess, originated from a single gene pool. Our analyses indicate that the overall A. cepistipes population shows little, but significant (FST=0.02), genetic differentiation. Such a situation suggests gene flow is strong, possibly due to long-distance dispersal of airborne basidiospores. This hypothesis is supported by the fact that we could not detect a pattern of isolation by distance. Gene flow is partially restricted by the high mountain ranges of the Alps, as indicated by a signal of spatial autocorrelation detected among genotypes separated by less than about 80–130km. In contrast, past deforestation seems to have no significant effect on the current spatial population structure of A. cepistipes. This might indicate the existence of a time lag between the current spatial genetic structure and the processes that have induced this specific structure. ► The population structure of Armillaria cepistipes in Switzerland was investigated. ► The population shows little but significant genetic differentiation, suggesting strong gene flow. ► The high mountain ranges of the Alps partially restrict gene flow. ► Past deforestation seems not to affect the current spatial population structure.