Low levels of allozyme variation in the southern populations of the Korean endemic shrub Sophora koreensis (Fabaceae): Implications for conservation

Abstract

Low levels of allozyme variation in the southern populations of the Korean endemic shrub Sophora koreensis (Fabaceae): Implications for conservation.- We investigated allozyme variation of the rare shrub Sophora koreensis in Yanggu County (South Korea), at the southern margin of the species range. To gain insights into ecological processes at the landscape level, we studied two or three populations from four localities (in total, 10 populations) in a range of ca. 6 km. We found low levels of within-population genetic variation (%P = 13.6, A = 1.14, and He = 0.026) and a moderate degree of among-population genetic differentiation (FST = 0.203). The analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) revealed a substantially higher percentage of variation among populations within localities (17%) than among localities (5%). There was no significant relationship between pairwise genetic divergence and logarithm of pairwise geographic distance (r = 0.032, P = 0.842). These results suggest limited gene flow between populations within localities, while indicating that the optimal strategy for the preservation of the genetic variation of S. koreensis is to conserve as many populations as possible.