Genetic erosion, inbreeding and reduced fitness in fragmented populations of the endangered tetraploid pea Swainsona recta

Genetic variation and fixation coefficients were measured for 17 fragmented populations of the endangered tetraploid pea Swainsona recta ranging in size from 1 to 430 flowering plants. Allelic richness and fixation coefficient were correlated with the log population size, suggesting that reduced population size is accompanied by genetic erosion, primarily due to a loss of rare (q<0.1) alleles, and increased inbreeding. Comparative germination...