Linear landscape elements in an Austrian viticultural landscape have limited effects on spatial patterns of plant genetic diversity

Background: The Wachau region along the river Danube in eastern Austria represents one of central Europe's hotspots of plant and animal species diversity. One of the typical landscape elements is vineyards, mostly established as linear elements on terraces along the slopes, with a characteristic and species-rich flora and fauna on terrace slopes lying between the cultivated terraces. Aims: We addressed the question of how the genetic variation of four plant species of open grassland vegetation types is distributed. We asked if levels and distribution of genetic diversity of the plant species Aster amellus, Gentianella aspera, Pulsatilla grandis, and Stachys recta were correlated with geographic distances along the terrace slopes. Methods: The dominant inherited molecular marker system random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) was used to estimate and compare the distribution of genetic diversity of the four selected species. Results: We found only low levels of correlation of the distribution of genetic variation with linear geographic patterns and obtained indirect evidence for high levels of gene flow between adjacent terrace slopes. Conclusions: We found that genetic diversity parameters of the four target species did not mirror the pattern of linear landscape elements, indicating that gene flow acts efficiently against the linear distribution of genetic variation.