Supplementary information
Materials and Methods
Study species and sampling locations
Wild emmer wheat, Triticum turgidum L. ssp. dicoccoides is a predominantly selfpollinating (>95% for the whole Triticum-Aegilops group, Mendlinger and Zohary, 1995) annual
grass. The spike at maturity disarticulates into arrow-shaped 2- or rarely 3-grained spikelets
shattered close to the mother plant. The awns balance the unit as it falls and propel it on and into the
ground. Consistent with limited seed and pollen dispersal distance, and very short pollen life (less
than 1 hour, Fritz and Lukaszewski, 1989), a sharp decrease in gene flow beyond the first distance
class of 5-7 m was reported in this species (Golenberg, 1987). The species occupies various habitats
in terms of topography (different rockiness, aspect) and soil types, which include basaltic soils on
basalt bedrock, terra rossa soil on hard limestone bedrock and rendzina.
Ammiad conservation site from which two of the populations are derived (K = Ammiad
Karst and N = Ammiad North) is located north of the Sea of Galilee in Northeastern Galilee at
altitudes between 240 and 350 m above sea level (Anikster and Noy-Meir, 1991). The soil there is
terra rossa with limestone uneven micro-relief. It features a typical Mediterranean climate with an
average annual rainfall of 580 mm (+/- 151 mm SD). Ammiad North is located on a moderate northfacing slope at an elevation of 260-280 m with relatively low rock cover (20-60%). Ammiad Karst is
on a steep south-facing slope of rockier micro-relief (40-80% rock cover) at 320-340 m above sea
level. Mount Hermon (MH) population is the northern-most population that was found in Israel. The
site is located on south facing slope of the mountain at an elevation of 1500 m. The mean annual
rainfall is more than 1300 mm (at Majdal Shams, few kms apart) and the climate is much cooler
then in Ammiad (the area is covered with snow during winter months). Har Amasa (HA) population
is the southern-most population that was found in Israel 19 Km south of Hebron and on the edge of
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Judean desert. It was found at an elevation of about 900 m and on east facing slope. The climate is
steppical and the mean annual rainfall is assumed to amount to less than 300 mm (383 mm was
measured in Daharyyia, about 15 Km northwestwards on Judean Mountains).The plants grow in soil
pockets between large rocks.
References
Anikster Y, Noy-Meir I (1991). The wild-wheat field laboratory at Ammiad. Israel Journal of
Botany 40: 351-362.
Fritz SE, Lukaszewski AJ (1989). Pollen longevity in wheat, rye and triticale. Plant Breeding 102:
31-34.
Golenberg EM (1987). Estimation of gene flow and genetic neighborhood size by indirect methods
in a selfing annual, Triticum dicoccoides. Evolution 41: 1326-1334.
Mendlinger S, Zohary D (1995). The extent and structure of genetic variation in species of the
Sitopsis group of Aegilops. Heredity 74: 616-627.
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Supplementary Table 1
Table 1. Rotated Factors' loadings for eight highly intercorrelated traits. Major factor loadings are in
bold.
Trait
FLL
FLW
PLL
PLW
SPL
AWL
DAW
DMT
Variance explained (%)
RF1
0.23
0.59
0.36
0.70
0.13
0.22
-0.91
-0.89
34.1
RF2
0.32
0.14
0.18
0.06
0.94
0.93
-0.23
-0.23
25.2
RF3
0.86
0.70
0.85
0.56
0.20
0.15
-0.27
-0.26
30.8
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