no genetic differences between stands and no evidence of inbreeding. Genetic clustering identified a single population (K = 1), indicating no genetic differentiation between managed and unmanaged stands. Adult and juvenile individuals of the unmanaged stand were more geographically structured than individuals from the managed one. There was a tendency of coancestry among juveniles at the first class of distance of the managed stand, suggesting a drift of genetic structure possibly caused by management. Understanding early responses to management on genetic diversity and stand structure is a first step to ensuring the effectiveness of conservation practices of tree species. The sustainability of forest management of E. erythropappus on genetic diversity, and more accurately, on spatial genetic structure needs evaluation over time to promote effective conservation of the population size and genetic variability.

Background: We developed simple sequence repeats (SSR) for Eremanthus erythropappus (DC.) MacLeish, an endangered tree species endemic to the Brazilian Savanna and Atlantic Forest biomes, and tested their transferability to two closely related Eremanthus species. Results: Using a genomic library enriched with tandem repeat motifs, we identified 16 primer pairs, and characterized them in two populations. Nine primers amplified the expected size fragments and seven SSRs were polymorphic, providing a total of 38 alleles and an average of 4.22 alleles per marker. The polymorphic information content (PIC) ranged from 0.44 to 0.94 with an average of 0.65. The average observed heterozygosity across all loci varied from 0.61 to 1.00. The observed (H O) and expected (H E) heterozygosity within the two populations varied from 0.65 to 1.00 and from 0.31 to 1.00, respectively. Conclusions: These newly developed SSR markers are a powerful tool for population genetic analyses and may be useful in studies on species ecology, evolution, and taxonomy.

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