Abstract
To understand the effects of habitat characteristics on the genetic diversity of Persicaria thunbergii, three sites of different environmental conditions in a water system were surveyed. Site A was the closest to the source of the water system, and there was a dam between sites A and B. Site C is located on the lowest downstream in the water system. Vegetation survey of four quadrats at each site was performed, and soil samples were collected for physicochemical analysis. Random amplification of polymorphic DNA (RAPD) analysis of ten P. thunbergii individuals at each site was conducted to calculate population genetic diversity and genetic distance among populations. Soil was sterile sand at site A, whereas loamy soil at sites B and C. A pure stand of P. thunbergii appeared at site A, while other species occurred together (such as Humulus japonicus and Phragmites australis) at sites B (Shannon-Wiener index; H B = 0.309) and C (H C = 0.299). Similar to the species diversity, genetic diversity (Nei’s gene diversity; h) within population of site A (h A = 0.2381) was relatively lower than sites B (h B = 0.2761) and C (h C = 0.2618). However, site C was separated from sites A and B in genetic distance rather than the geographical distance (Nei’s genetic distance; A~B, 0.0338; B~C, 0.0685; A~C, 0.0833).
Highlights
The total potential genetic diversity of P. thunbergii population seemed to decrease when harsh flooding occurs in a natural habitat
High soil fertility increases the number of aerial seed production despite the decrease of mass allocation in aerial seeds (Kim et al 2016)
Considering the mass allocation, genetic diversity of P. thunbergii population is expected to be relatively higher in relatively fertile habitat than sterile habitat
Summary
P. thunbergii inhabits widely and sometimes dominate in wetland ecosystems where the water level is not much deep (Kawano 2008; Kim et al 2013). In Korea, P. thunbergii is occasionally considered as a management object due to its rapid recovery through asexual reproduction after harsh flooding disturbances (Kim et al 2012). P. thunbergii has the amphicarpic trait that produces different types of seeds only shown in a few species (Cheplick 1987). P. thunbergii produces aerial chasmogamous flower but subterranean cleistogamic flower (Kawano et al 1990; Choo et al 2014). Two types of seeds from different types of flower (aerial and subterranean seed) have significant differences in seed and seedling stage
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