%0 Research article
%T Phylogeographic pattern of Populus cathayana in the southeast of Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau of China revealed by cpSSR markers
%A Peng, Youhong
%A Chen, Ke
%D 2011
%J Silva Fennica
%V 45
%N 4
%R doi:10.14214/sf.94
%U https://silvafennica.fi/article/94
%X The vegetation in the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau is thought to be highly  sensitive and more vulnerable to global climate change than that of  other areas. The uplift of the plateau as well as the climatic  oscillations during glacial periods had a profound impact on plant  species distribution and genetic diversity there. In the present study,  seven pairs of cpSSR (chloroplast Simple Sequence Repeat) primers were  utilized to detect genetic varieties of Populus cathayana Rehd  populations from their natural range in the southeastern areas of  Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. A total of 28 alleles and 12 different  haplotypes were detected. The proportion of haplotype variation among  populations (G<sub>ST</sub> = 0.794, N<sub>ST</sub> = 0.900) indicated high level of genetic differentiation among populations and a significant phylogeographic structure (N<sub>ST</sub> &gt; G<sub>ST</sub>,  P &lt; 0.05). This appears to support the hypothesis that these  populations were derived from multiple refugia areas during the  Quaternary climatic oscillations. Based on the haplotype network and  mismatch distribution analyses, we found no evidence of postglacial  range recolonization and expansion by P. cathayana in this region. This  might be mainly due to the complex topography of the southeastern part  of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. The lofty mountain ranges and deep  valleys in this region might have prevented long-distance migrations of  this species during the climatic amelioration.