Genetic structure of geographical marginal populations of Cryptomeriajaponica
Although reaching its southern limit of distribution on Yaku Island, sugi (Cryptomeriajaponica D. Don) grows well in large forests protected from logging. Using isozyme analysis, we investigated 14 stands from Yaku Island to clarify the genetic structure of the most southern forests. Thirteen loci encoding nine enzyme systems were analyzed. The polymorphic indexes yielded a proportion of polymorphic loci of 0.330, an average number of alleles per locus of 2.19, an effective number of alleles per locus of 1.16, and a mean expected heterozygosity of 0.138. Most of the allozyme variation was within stands (97.17%), 2.83% being between stands. Comparing marginal populations of Yaku Island with those of mainland Japan, Yaku Island C. japonica forests have maintained a relatively large genetic variation mainly because Yaku Island (i) was a refugia during the last glacial period, (ii) has a suitable climate and adequate precipitation, and (iii) contains a relatively large area (about 8000 ha) of natural forests as protected areas.