抄録
Silene kiusiana (Caryophyllaceae) is an endangered perennial herb of semi-natural grasslands in Japan and Korea. To elucidate the genetic status of S. kiusiana in the Aso region, Kyushu, Japan, in which relatively large populations still remain, we analyzed the genetics of seven populations of S. kiusiana using five novel microsatellite markers. Each population of S, kiusiana has maintained relatively high genetic diversity (mean H_E = 0.791 and mean N_A =12.0). In addition, the values of pairwise F_<ST> indicating the degree of genetic differentiation among populations were significantly larger than zero between all pairs of populations, although the degrees of difference were small. The semi-natural grasslands in the Aso region have decreased in size over the past several decades, and thus habitat fragmentation may have caused genetic differentiation among populations of S. kiusiana. Although the populations of S. kiusiana have maintained relatively high genetic diversity, the genetic dynamics of S. kiusiana populations should be continuously monitored.
