MOLECULAR-GENETIC VARIATION FOLLOWING A POPULATION CRASH IN THE ENDANGERED MAUNA-KEA SILVERSWORD, ARGYROXIPHIUM SANDWICENSE SSP SANDWICENSE(ASTERACEAE)

The endangered Mauna Kea silversword, Argyroxiphium sandwicense ssp. s andwicense (Asteraceae), has experienced a severe decline in distribut ion and abundance because of predation by alien ungulates. The small r emnant natural population on the Mauna Kea volcano contains only 46 in dividuals. By contrast, the Haleakala silversword, A. sandwicense ssp. macrocephalum, consists of a large, vigorous population exceeding 60 000 individuals. Molecular genetic variation in the two populations wa s assessed using random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) loci. Despite its severe crash in size, the Mauna Kea population did not differ sig nificantly from the Haleakala population in the number of detectably p olymorphic loci or in heterozygosity. The lack of substantial reductio n in genetic variation, at least as measured with RAPD loci, suggests that the Mauna Kea population may not yet have gone through multiple g enerations at very small size.