Abstract (eng)
Today, the conservation of nature and organisms is more important than ever, thus it is of utmost necessity to gain knowledge of the condition of the habitat, life history traits and genetic patterns of rare and possibly endangered species. Especially rare species with fragmented and isolated populations often suffer from loss of genetic diversity and increasing differentiation between the populations due to genetic drift. The Austrian endemic Dianthus plumarius subsp. blandus is a species with fragmented populations due to its special niche, i. e. open habitats on stabilized scree. This investigation aimed at resolving the genetic patterns within and among the populations in the Gesäuse region. Additionally, closely related taxa of the Dianthus sect. Plumaria in eastern Austria were included to enlighten the genetic relationship between these poorly defined taxa. However, the employed method of AFLPs only partly resolved the relationship between the different taxa or the populations of the Gesäuse. Within the Gesäuse region no evidence for high degrees of isolation in most of the single populations was found. One population was found to be highly differentiated from all others in the region. Polyploidy in the investigated Dianthus species may have resulted in elevated amounts of homoplasy and lower resolution in the AFLP data.