title: Genetic diversity and conservation implications of four Cupressus species in China as revealed by microsatellite markers.
abstract: Understanding the extent and distribution of genetic diversity is crucial for the conservation and management of endangered species. Cupressus chengiana, C. duclouxiana, C. gigantea, and C. funebris are four ecologically and economically important species in China. We investigated their genetic diversity, population structure, and extant effective population size (35 populations, 484 individuals) employing six pairs of nuclear microsatellite markers (selected from 53). Their genetic diversity is moderate among conifers, and genetic differentiation among populations is much lower in C. gigantea than in the other three species; the estimated effective population size was largest for C. chengiana, at 1.70, 2.91, and 3.91 times the estimates for C. duclouxiana, C. funebris, and C. gigantea, respectively. According to Bayesian clustering analysis, the most plausible population subdivision scheme within species is two groups in C. chengiana, three groups in C. duclouxiana, and a single group for both C. funebris and C. gigantea. We propose a conservation strategy for these cypress species.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Grassland Agro-Ecosystem, School of Life Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, 730000, Gansu, China.
authors.forename: Xu
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.forename: Haiyan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Zhonghu
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Huiying
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Shang
authors.forename: Robert P
authors.initials: RP
authors.lastname: Adams
authors.forename: Kangshan
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Mao
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001499:Bayes Theorem; D002681:China; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources; D029781:Cupressus / Q000235:genetics*; D018744:DNA, Plant / Q000235:genetics; D014644:Genetic Variation; D005828:Genetics, Population; D018895:Microsatellite Repeats; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA
chemical_list: D018744:DNA, Plant