Genetic Diversity Of Duchesnea Indica Populations And Its Relationship With Species Diversity Within Community

Genetic diversity and species diversity are two of the most important and fundamental aspects of biodiversity. Although numerous studies have examined genetic diversity with plant populations and species diversity within plant communities, these studies are mostly conducted separately and very few have investigated the relationship between these two levels of biodiversity. Examining such a relationship may help understand ecological and evolutionary processes determining population and community structure and dynamics, and contribute to a conceptual unity of the two levels of biodiversity.In this study,33 populations of the stoloniferous clonal herb Duchesnea indica Folk were sampled, and species composition of the communities were surveyed. Cover and area of the D. indica populations and the communities were also measured in the field. In the lab, SSR (microsatellites) was used to assess genetic diversity and structure of the 353 individuals (ramets) of D. indica. Correlation analyses were used to examine the relationships between population genetic diversity of D. indica, species diversity with the communities and environmental factors such as area and cover.Within-population genetic diversity of D. indica was relatively high:all populations were polyclonal and local genotypes were very common. Also, genetic variation was mainly among populations. These results indicate that there, to some extent, exits gene flow both between and among populations of D. indica through sexual reproduction. Although both genetic diversity of D. indica within populations and species richness within communities were significantly positively correlated with area (community or population area), there was no significant correlation between genetic diversity and species richness. These results suggest that, although both genetic diversity and species diversity can be affected by environmental factors such as area, other factors (e.g. interference) may have stronger effects on genetic diversity and species richness, resulting in no significant relationship between these two levels of biodiversity.