Provtagningsdesign för en populationsgenetisk studie av violgubbe

Population studies have become important tools in conservation biology and genetic analyses are used to investigate genetic diversity within and among populations. Genetic variation can help improve fitness and ecological resilience. However, knowledge about genetic diversity is scarce for most wild species in Sweden. Insight in genetic population structure, can help us understand a species ́ ecological traits and improve species conservation. Fungi are fundamental components in terrestrial ecosystems, yet they have gotten little attention in conservatory work in Europe. In my bachelor thesis, by a short literature review and GIS- analysis of species occurrence data, I have developed a sampling scheme for a conservatory, genetic population study of the threatened pig’s ear mushroom, Gomphus clavatus. The population study aims to investigate genetic structures of the pig’s ear mushroom, in Sweden and surrounding countries. I collected occurrence data from nine countries and processed a total of 3232 findings, which were all compiled in Arcmap. A preliminary selection of localities in Sweden was made through identifying around twenty localities with recent findings, in protected areas. Eight localities of particular interest were included in the selection, one location with findings of morphologically divergent specimens were among those localities. For the surrounding countries, the preliminary selection included localities with findings reported between years 2015–2020. In my literature review, previous studies were not comparable in a way that could guide the design of a sampling scheme for the pig ́s ear mushroom. For clonal species, one should prioritize the total number of localities rather than the number of samples per site, and vice versa for sexually reproducing species. Since the pig ́s ear mushroom belongs in both groups, I suggest a combination of higher density sampling efforts at two localities, together with single sampling at a greater number of geographically distributed localities.