The significance of genetic erosion for the extinction of locally endangered plant populations

The research described in this thesis and a parallel thesis (Ouborg, 1993) addressed the question whether genetic processes are involved in the probability of population extinction for two endangered plant species in The Netherlands: Scabiosa columbaria and Salvia pratensis. A basic question is whether the level of genetic variation is already diminished in small populations. At the allozyme level, both the degree of polymorphism and the mean observed number of alleles were positively correlated with population size. Moreover, the allozyme data showed significant genetic differentiation between populations. ... Zie: Summar