Abstract
Arctophila fulva var. pendulina is a rare endemic perennial grass confined to seashore and riverbank meadows around the Bothnian Bay, the northernmost part of the Baltic Sea. The number of A. fulva populations has decreased during the last few decades in Finland and Sweden, and nowadays there are only eight populations left in the drainage area of the Bothnian Bay. We investigated the distribution of genetic variation within and between six subpopulations in the largest remaining population at Liminka Bay, Finland, using amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) markers. Relatively high amounts of variation were found in the subpopulations, the mean Nei’s expected heterozygosity being typical (0.267) for an outcrossing species. Despite the fact that no seedlings or viable seeds of A. fulva have been found in the previous field studies, the observed high genotypic diversity suggested that sexual reproduction has played an important role at some time during the history of the studied A. fulva population. Analysis of population structure revealed a low level of genotypic differentiation (ΦST=0.046) between subpopulations, and also significant sub-structuring within subpopulations. Isolation-by-distance between subpopulations was present on scales larger than 1 km. The overall pattern of genetic variation within and between subpopulations suggest that the population has characters of both stepping-stone and metapopulation models. Because our results suggested that subpopulations are more or less ephemeral, the conservation and management effort in this species should be targeted to conservation of the required habitat of the species instead of extant subpopulations.
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Acknowledgements
The authors wish to thank Elina Leskinen, Anssi Saura and two anonymous referees for helpful comments and suggestions. The work was funded by the Academy of Finland (Projects No. 78130 and 47973).
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Kreivi, M., Rautiainen, P., Aspi, J. et al. Genetic structure and gene flow in an endangered perennial grass, Arctophila fulva var. pendulina . Conserv Genet 6, 683–696 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10592-005-9027-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10592-005-9027-3