Information about plant genetic diversity is necessary for the development of appropriate strategies in conservation biology as well as in many other applied fields. From a basic evolutionary standpoint, genetic diversity is assumed to be crucial for the evolutionary potential of a species. Research programs that aim to investigate population structure provide evolutionary insights into the demographic patterns of diverse organisms (Milligan et al., 1994). Interest in genetic diversity has also risen in applied fields of biology such as agriculture, where the technique of multiline sowing of varietal mixes within a single field has long been known to increase crop yields (Smithson & Lenne, 1996) and to.
