%0 Research article
%T Allozyme variation in natural populations of Picea asperata
%A Luo, Jianxun
%A Wang, Yuhua
%A Korpelainen, Helena
%A Li, Chunyang
%D 2005
%J Silva Fennica
%V 39
%N 2
%R doi:10.14214/sf.381
%U https://silvafennica.fi/article/381
%X A survey of allozymic alleles and genetic diversity was conducted for  ten natural populations of Picea asperata Mast. originating from the  mountains of Southwest China. A total of twenty-seven alleles at  seventeen loci were observed. Ten of the loci were found monomorphic.  Our results showed that the populations sampled were characterized by  low genetic diversity (mean He = 0.096) and a low level of inbreeding  (mean Fis = 0.005). The UPGMA tree of genetic relationships indicated  that there was significant differentiation among populations. The  coefficient of genetic differentiation among populations, based on Fst,  equaled 0.311. Such extensive inter-populational differentiation  detected in P. asperata could have resulted from allele frequency  divergence among populations, particularly, in one population.  Introgression from another species, variation in environmental  conditions, and differing selection pressures could be some of the  factors attributing to significant differences among populations. In  addition, our results showed that the geographic and genetic distances  were not correlated in the populations of P. asperata. Based on the  genetic information obtained, we concluded that monitoring appropriate  genetic markers may be an effective means of identifying potential  genetic changes occurring during forest tree evolution.