Impact of climatic factors on genetic diversity of Stipa  breviflora populations in Inner Mongolia.
Genetic diversity of Stipa breviflora populations  in the Inner Mongolian grasslands of China and its possible correlation with  climatic factors was examined using geographic information systems and random  amplified polymorphism DNA analysis. A total of 308 bands were produced with 28  arbitrary decamer oligonucleotide. Three major findings were demonstrated.  First, the genetic diversity of S. breviflora was high but lower than  that of Stipa grandis and Stipa krylovii. Second, genetic  distances between the populations analyzed using the unweighted pair group  method and the Mantel test had a highly positive correlation with geographical  distances, indicating that spatial separation of this species in the studied  area produced genetic shift in the population. Finally, both canonical  correspondence and Pearson's analyses revealed strong correlations between  genetic differentiation and temperature in the area. We therefore conclude that  temperature variations play an important role in genetic differentiations among  the investigated S. breviflora populations.
College of Life Sciences, Inner Mongolia University, Hohhot, China.
Q
Q
Zhang
J M
JM
Niu
S B
SB
Wu
A
A
Buyantuyev
J J
JJ
Dong
D002681:China; D002980:Climate; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D056426:Genetic Loci / Q000235:genetics; D014644:Genetic Variation; D005828:Genetics, Population; D005843:Geography; D010802:Phylogeny; D006109:Poaceae / Q000235:genetics*; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic; D019105:Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA Technique