Drakaea glyptodon nuclear microsatellite and chloroplast haplotype data

Many orchids are characterized by small, patchily distributed populations. Resolving how they persist is important for understanding the ecology of this hyper-diverse family, many members of which are of conservation concern. Ten populations of the common terrestrial orchid Drakaea glyptodon from Southwest Australia were genotyped with ten nuclear and five chloroplast SSR markers. Levels and partitioning of genetic variation, and effective population sizes (Ne), were estimated. Spatial genetic structure of nuclear diversity, together with chloroplast data, are used to infer the effective number of seed parents per population. We found high genetic diversity, Ne values that generally exceed predictions based on the number of flowering individuals, and moderate levels of gene flow. Two populations were founded by < 5 colonists suggesting some populations are colonized by few seeds, with growth largely resulting from in situ recruitment. A value of 3.65 for mp /ms indicates that pollina...