Dynamics in genetic diversity of the cohort of clonal plants in the regeneration process.

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Clone dynamics of a dwarf bamboo, Sasa kurilensis was investigated during the regeneration process after mass flowering and death. Sasa spp. Were monocarpic long-lived clonal plants with mass flowering habits. The aim of this study is to clarify the long-term dynamics of genetic diversity in Sasa populations through their life cycles.1. We carried out DNA analysis for the flowered population of Sasa kurilensis, and clarified that mass flowering was caused by the simultaneous flowering of many different genets.2. We estimated the clone structure of the 21-year old S. kurilensis population with 1) the DNA fingerprint method (AFLP) and 2) the dig-up method. Although the population size of S. kurilensis has been nearly recovered, genet sizes in the population were widely varied. Severe inter-genet competition had continued and caused the self thinning process. S. kurilensis population has not attained stable states in 20 years after germination and it needs fairly long time to gain the stable states.We concluded that : 1) AFLP fingerprint method is a strong tool for the analysis of the genet dynamics of clonal plants : 2) The simultaneous flowering considerably enhanced the genetic diversity of Sasa population : 3) Clonal structure widely changed during the life cycle process of Sasa. Through this study, we found that the combined research method with the demographical study and molecular ecological techniques makes the direct observation of genet dynamics possible, which improve further understanding of long-term dynamics in the clonal plant populations.