Abstract
Sanguisorba officinalis is an herb which grows at semi-natural grassland ecosystems in Satoyama landscapes, Japan. Because the species occurs in habitats managed by humans, we hypothesized that its genetic variation may have been affected more by anthropogenic factors rather than by climatic ones. In order to test the hypothesis, we collected 179 leaf samples in Japan and analyzed the geographic patterns of cpDNA haplotypes. Seventeen haplotypes were identified; their phylogeographic structure was weak. Distant populations were classified into the same group based on SAMOVA. Such characteristics are different from patterns previously reported for woody plants in Japan. Our findings suggest that herbaceous species favoring semi-natural grasslands may have distributed their seeds to distant sites through various human activities in Satoyama, and thus their phylogeogprahic structure was altered from one in prehistoric time.
