Genetic variation in central and peripheral populations of the alpine plant Dianthus glacialis revealed by RAPD and allozyme markers

Abstract

Dianthus glacialis is an alpine plant with a prevalent distrihution in the Eastern Alps. The western boundary of the species range is situated in south-eastern Switzerland, where D. glacialis is a rare species, whereas the main distribution range is in Austria. We used this species to test the central-marginal model. In accordance to this model, populations near the centre of a species' distribution range usually are continuously distributed, occur at high density, and display high levels of genetic and phenotypic variation, while populations at the margin are sparse and isolated, show reduced generic variation and increased population differentiation. Therefore we compared the genetic pattern of allozyme and RAPD variatio n in four marginal and four central populations with a set of total 240 individuals (30 per population).