Abstract:

phenotypic traits were investigated for 190 individuals in 11 natural populations of Betula alnoides from Guangxi,China using nested variance analysis,correlation analysis and clustering analysis.etc.The variation within populations was much greater than that among populations,which inferred that little differentiation was observed among populations.Among 12 phenotypic traits,number of lateral veins,height of maximum width were remarkably correlated to both longitude and latitude,length of leaves to longitude,and width of seed wing to altitude.There was no significant relationship between geographic distances and mahalanobis distances calculated from all phenotypic traits.These findings will lay a foundation for genetic improvement in B.alnoides, and provide scientific basis for working out breeding strategy in this species and for contermeasures of natural forest sustained utilization.

Key words: Betual alnoides, natural population, phenotypic variation, geographic variation pattern, population differentiation