Genetic Diversity in Liatris cylindracea

Abstract

A genetically substructured population of the perennial, outbreeding herb, Liatris cylindracea was marked off into a grid with quadrat size that approximates the neighborhood size of Liatris. The plants were genotyped at 27 allozyme loci, 15 of which were polymorphic. The apportionment of genetic diversity within the population was determined by the Shannon information measure. Ninety-three percent of the total diversity is represented within each neighborhood. Five percent of the diversity is due to between neighborhoods, and about 2% is due to differences between sample rozs and columns. It is concluded that the subdivision of a population does not result in a loss of genetic diversity within neighborhoods. The properties of genetically subdivided populations have received considerable attention by theoreticians (e.g., Wright, 1943a; Kimura & Weiss, 1954; Maruyama, 1970). Because of the difficulty in the past of finding suitable single locus genetic markers, few experimental studies on genetic substructuring have been available. Now, with the advent of allozyme electrophoresis as a tool for the genetic analysis of natural populations, an increased number of studies on both animals (Selander 8c Yang, 1969; Workman gc Niswander, 1970; Neel gc Ward, 1972) and plants (Schaal, 1975) have indicated that populations of some organisms are genetically