3.2 | Genetic differentiation and mantel test
Pairwise estimates of FST among the eastern populations varied from 0.0015 (between LSX and NXC) to 0.2152 (between SFS and NNZ) with an average of 0.0558, indicating low to moderate genetic differentiation among the eastern populations. The pairwise FST between SXX and eastern populations was generally higher, ranging from 0.2398 (between SXX and LXW) to 0.3809 (between SXX and SFS). The pairwise FST between SZA and eastern populations varied from 0.1597 (between SZA and LSZ) to 0.3203 (between SZA and SFS). There existed relatively high genetic differentiation between SXX, SZA populations and other populations. However, the average genetic differentiation between SYX located in middle section and populations located in eastern section was low (FST = 0.0665) (Figure 2).