Population History, Mating System, and Fitness Variation in a Perennial Herb with a Fragmented Distribution

Abstract: Patterns of genetic diversity are strongly influenced by the history of populations, which is often ignored when examining the viability of populations. We studied the relationship of population size, genetic variation, and fitness in the perennial herb Vincetoxicum hirundinaria (Asclepiadaceae) in the southwestern archipelago of Finland, where this species occurs commonly on many of the…