Genetic Structure of Araucaria angustifolia (Araucariaceae) Populations in Brazil: Implications for the in situ Conservation of Genetic Resources

Abstract The distribution of the genetic variation within and among natural populations of A. ANGUSTIFOLIA growing in different regions in Brazil was assessed at microsatellite and AFLP markers. Both markers revealed high gene diversity (H = 0.65; AR = 9.1 for microsatellites and H = 0.27; P = 77.8 % for AFLPs), moderate overall differentiation (RST = 0.13 for microsatellites and FST = 0.10 for AFLPs), but high divergence of the northernmost, geographically isolated population. In a Bayesian analysis, microsatellite data suggested population structure at two levels: at K = 2 and at K = 3 in agreement to the geographical distribution of populations. This result was confirmed by the UPGMA dendrogram based on microsatellite data (bootstrap support > 95 %). Non-hierarchical AMOVA revealed high variation among populations from different A POSTERIORI defined geographical groups. The genetic distance between sample locations increased with geographical distance for microsatellites (R = 0.62; P = 0.003) and AFLPs (R = 0.32; P = 0.09). This pattern of population differentiation may be correlated with population history such as geographical isolation and postglacial colonization of highlands. Implications of the population genetic structure for the conservation of genetic resources are discussed.