本研究以葉綠體DNA atpB-rbcL及trnL-trnF 基因區間片段的序列,分析環繞南中國海周圍的大陸及島嶼的水筆仔(Kandelia candel (L.) Druce)族群之遺傳結構,得到結果如下:(1)atpB-rbcL基因區間的演化較為緩慢,累積的遺傳變異度較低(π= 0.00049),而trnL-trnF 基因區間的變異度極高(π= 0.02859),未受先驅者效應或瓶頸效應所影響。(2)由最大儉約方法及近鄰歸群法分別建構的親緣關係樹以及用支序學方法分析的序列資料顯示,水筆仔的族群是由南向北的方向擴展。(3)南中國海南北方的族群各為一單系群,本種已有地理上和遺傳上的分化(FST = 0.95382),前者包括琉球群島、台灣、中國大陸東南沿岸、海南島及越南北部的族群,後者為沙嶗越的峇哥及泰國西部的臘儂族群。由於水筆仔的胎生苗可隨海流傳播,造成南北方水筆仔族群高度分化的原因可能與夏季海流方向無法交流及第四紀冰河期海面下降造成的南北隔離有關。
Intergenic spacers of chloroplast DNA (atpB-rbcL and trnL-trnF) were sequenced to investigate the population genetic structure of Kandelia candel (L.) Druce along the coasts and among the islands surrounding the South China Sea. The results showed that atpB-rbcL spacer accumulated low genetics variation (π= 0.00049) due to slow evolutionary rate. On the other hand, high genetic variation (π= 0.02859) of trnL-trnF spacer was shown not caused by founder or bottleneck effect. Phylogenetic trees reconstructed by both maximum parsimony and neighbor joining method analyses and the sequence data analyzed by cladistics method indicated the distribution of Kandelia candel was from south to north. The northern and the southern populations around the South China Sea belonged to different monophyletic groups because of the geographic and genetic differentiation (FST = 0.95382). The results showed that the northern population should include Ryukyu Archipelago, Taiwan, southern China, Hainan Island and northern Vietnam, and the southern population Bako in Sarawak and Ranong in western Thailand. Since viviparous embryo of Kandelia candel was known dispersed by sea current, the formation of high differentiation between the northern and the southern populations should be attributed to the lack of sea current interaction during summer and the isolation caused by sea level drop during the glacial epoch in the Quaternary.