High levels of genetic diversity in island populations of the island endemic Suzukia luchuensis (Labiatae)

Genetic diversity and genetic differentiation within and among island populations was examined by allozyme electrophoresis in Suzukia luchuensis (Labiatae), which is endemic to four of the Ryukyu Islands, southern Japan, and one island near Taiwan. Intrapopulation allozyme diversity was very low in all the four Ryukyu Islands, probably due to the effects of random drift in small populations. In contrast, genetic diversity at the species level was high, possibly because of an ancient origin of populations and/or multiple colonization of the species on different islands. Genetic differentiation among the overall populations was high (G(ST)=0.863), while gene flow (Nm) as estimated from allozyme frequency data was 0.041, suggesting that its occurrence among populations is highly restricted. Hierarchical analysis of genetic differentiation indicated that a high proportion of the total allelic variance is attributed to variation among islands, corresponding to the fact that several alleles were fixed on only one island. However, intraisland genetic differentiation was small on all islands except Yonaguni Island, where S. luchuensis is relatively widely distributed. Most diversity was thus due to differences among islands.