Journal of Heredity Advance Access originally published online on January 11, 2006
Journal of Heredity 2006 97(1):45-54; doi:10.1093/jhered/esj008
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Genetic Diversity Within and Among Sinai Populations of Three Ballota Species (Lamiaceae)
Botany Department, Faculty of Science, Suez Canal University, Ismailia, Egypt (Zaghloul, Moustafa, and Kamel); Departments of Plant Biology and Genetics, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602 (Hamrick); and Botany Department, Faculty of Science, Alexandria University, Alexandria, Egypt (El-Ghareeb)
Address correspondence to M. S. Zaghloul at the address above, or e-mail: saadzaghloul{at}hotmail.com or zaghloul_mohamed{at}yahoo.com.
Ballota undulata, Ballota kaiseri, and Ballota saxatilis are very rare (and endemic—B. kaiseri), threatened species growing in St. Catherine Protectorate, southern Sinai, Egypt. They are subjected to a number of threats that have caused populations to decline in both number and size. For the long-term survival of these species, an appropriate conservation strategy for the maintenance of their genetic variation should be developed. This study measures genetic diversity within and among populations of these Ballota species and determines the conservation implications of the results. The genetic analyses demonstrated that the three Ballota species maintain relatively high levels of genetic diversity (He = 0.195–0.317) and that most of the their genetic diversity was found within populations (GST = 0.045–0.099). Indirect estimates of historical gene flow for B. undulata and B. saxatilis were relatively high (Nm(W) = 5.25 and 3.37, respectively) but suggest that there is somewhat less gene movement among B. kaiseri populations (Nm(W) = 2.29). The levels of genetic diversity maintained within populations of the three Ballota species indicate that an appropriate sampling design for ex situ safeguarding should capture the majority of the genetic diversity found within these taxa.