GENETIC DIVERSITY WITHIN AND AMONG POPULATIONS OF A THREATENED SPECIES - ERODIUM PAULARENSE FERN GHENT AND IZCO

Erodium paularense Fern. Gent. & Izco (Geraniaceae) is a perennial, en demic species of central Spain. The restricted distribution of its thr ee populations has made it necessary to consider measures for conserva tion. Random amplified polymorphic DNA markers were used to determine genetic variation among and within populations, Sixty-three per cent o f the bands were polymorphic. No population-specific marker was identi fied. Cluster analysis based on Jaccard's coefficient of all the indiv iduals grouped most of them according to the present populations. With in-population variability was of a similar order in the three populati ons. Highly significant genetic differences between populations were d etected through AMOVA. Within population diversity contributed 80-85% to the species diversity, a value typical of an outbreeding plant.