population (37.1%). The heterozygosity values per location were in the range of 0.152e0.210 (Table 2). The population with the
highest heterozygosity was WL, followed by MD. The heterozygosity of the HJ population was the lowest. In addition, a
comparatively large proportion of loci were found at WL and MD. About 20% of loci in WL and 16% in MD were not found in
75% of the remaining populations, and 33% of loci in WL and 31% in MD were not found in 50% of the rest of the locations
(Table 2), reflecting the relatively high rate of allele fixation in these two geographical populations. Private alleles per location
ranged from 1 to 47 (Table 2). The WL population possessed the largest number of private alleles (47). However, only one
private allele was detected in the HJ population. These data, including the number of polymorphic loci, alleles and heterozygosity
inferred from the AFLP markers, indicated that the level of genetic diversity of the WL and MD populations are higher
than those of the other populations, and the genetic diversity of the HJ population is the lowest among the eight populations.
Nevertheless, P. rabaudi in the upper Yangtze River drainage system generally showed moderate levels of genetic diversity, as
demonstrated by the calculated values for the different genetic diversity estimators (polymorphic loci, the effective number of
alleles and the average heterogeneity).