Genetic and morphologic diversity of European fan palm (Chamaerops humilisL.) populations from different environments from Sicily

Abstract

Chamaerops humilis is decreasing in abundance in Mediterranean Europe, which has induced the European community to call for its protection in Special Areas of Conservation. However, information about its genetic and morphological variability, which is crucial to the development of any conservation strategies, is insufficient. The present study aimed to investigate the genetic and morphological variability of C. humilis in Sicily, which was selected as a model because of the high number of dense populations. The relationships between morphological traits and climatic variables were studied to highlight patterns of adaptation to the environment, along with the genetic similarity among the populations. Ten natural populations were sampled, analyzed using 28 specifically designed SSR primers, and evaluated based on 29 morphological traits. The populations were clustered similarly based on genetic and morphological traits. Heterozygosity was high and inbreeding coefficients were low. These results, along with higher intra- than inter-population differentiation, suggest that C. humilis populations in Sicily differentiated from a common ancestor and that inter-population variation arose from secondary evolution processes induced by ecological adaptation. The correlations between climatic variables and morphological traits suggest that the morphological adaptation to arid environments depends more on summer temperatures than on evapotranspiration or rainfall and that autumn and winter temperatures are determinants of the species establishment at new sites. Considering the response of C. humilis to seasonal temperatures, the present results indicate this species as a candidate for tracking climatic changes in Europe. Further studies are needed to highlight the adaptation of C. humilis to cold environments. Palaeo-climatological and -ecological studies could help clarify its strategies for the colonization of new sites

Research Article Population genetic structure of three species in the genus Astrocaryum G. Mey. (Arecaceae).

“…The percentage of polymorphic loci found for the three Astrocaryum species was lower than that reported in other studies involving other palm species and using SSR (Conte et al, 2008;Elshibli and Korpelainen, 2008;Choo et al, 2010;Namoff et al, 2011;Ottewell et al, 2012;Giovino et al, 2014;Lanes et al, 2015;Nazareno and dos Reis, 2014). An extremely low value of polymorphism (6.17%) was reported for Livistona carinensis, an endangered palm species (Shapcott et al, 2009).…”

“…Levels of genetic diversity (H E and H O ) found for the species of Astrocaryum presented here were also lower than most of the literature available for other palm species using microsatellite markers, which showed a minimum estimate for H E of 0.5 (Conte et al, 2008;Elshibli and Korpelainen, 2008;Choo et al, 2010;Namoff et al, 2011;Ottewell et al, 2012;Nazareno and dos Reis, 2014;Ramos et al, 2016). Nevertheless, similar results for H E and H O were found for Chamaerops humilis, with a mean N A equal to 3.67 and H E and H O equal to 0.374 and 0.366, respectively (Giovino et al, 2014). It is worth mentioning that studies with other congeners of Astrocaryum (Oliveira et al, 2014;Ramos et al, 2012Ramos et al, , 2016) that used the same microsatellite set used here, excluded monomorphic loci from the estimation of genetic diversity; this automatically increased the estimates for these parameters [given the formula used to calculate heterozygosity (H = 2 ( 1)…”

“…Other population genetic structure parameters, such as Wright's inbreeding coefficient and gene flow, have shown that, in general, genetic differentiation (F ST ) is low, indicating genetic variation higher within -rather than among -populations and a high gene flow among populations (Elshibli and Korpelainen, 2008;Martins-Corder et al, 2009;Shapcott et al, 2009;Namoff et al, 2011;Silva et al, 2011;Giovino et al, 2014;Nazareno and dos Reis, 2014;Oliveira et al, 2014;Moura et al, 2015). Recently, Ramos et al (2016) found a high level of genetic diversity, mostly within populations, for adults and seedlings in populations of A. aculeatum, and along with results for spatial genetic structure indicated short-distance seed dispersal and modest levels of pollen flow.…”

Ecological and historical determinants of population genetic structure and diversity in the Mediterranean shrubRosmarinus officinalis(Lamiaceae)

“…Migliore et al ., ). However, few studies have addressed population genetic studies on widespread Mediterranean species or have investigated population genetic diversity levels in relation to ecological factors (but see Gil‐López, Segarra‐Moragues & Ojeda, ; Giovino et al ., ), despite the key role these species may play in Mediterranean ecosystems. Thus, an important part of species diversity and how it is influenced by climatic, geological and historical factors remains poorly understood.…”

Combined effects of seed provenance, plant facilitation and restoration site on revegetation success

“…We urge managers to accomplish our approach in revegetation actions of fragmented plant populations that have been rapidly and intensively disturbed by habitat destruction and other human activities. These would be the case, for example, of Q. suber , F. angustifolia and Juniperus macrocarpa populations in southern Spain (Fedriani et al., ; García‐Novo et al., ; López‐Pasarín, ), Chamaerops humilis and Ranunculus nodiflorus in France (Médail & Quézel, ; Noel, Porcher, Moret, & Machon ) and Fagus silvatica and C. humilis in Italy (Giovino, Scibetta, Saia, & Guarino ; Leonardi et al., ).…”