Programmes > Par auteur > Chung Kuo-Fang

The colonization of Remote Oceania in prehistoric times was a complex process involving the intentional transport of animal and plant species to resource - poor islands. One of these transported species was paper mulberry, a fiber crop native to East-Asia. A former study of our group on chloroplast haplotypes linked Pacific paper mulberry to Taiwan, providing the first genetic proof for the “Out of Taiwan” hypothesis of Austronesian expansion. Building upon this data in this presentation we will address the genetic diversity and structure found within Oceania in both contemporary plants and herbaria samples, using a set of microsatellites. Our data reveal three main nodes separating West, Central and East Polynesia, a dispersal pattern that may reflect the routes of prehistoric Austronesian voyagers during migration and settlement of Remote Oceania.