Paternity analysis reveals significant isolation and near neighbor pollen dispersal in small Cariniana legalis Mart. Kuntze populations in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest

Abstract

Throughout the world, large trees are increasingly rare. Cariniana legalis is the tallest tree species of the Brazilian Atlantic Forest, reaching up to 60 m in height. Due to extensive deforestation of the Atlantic Forest, remnant C. legalis populations are small and spatially isolated, requiring the development of strategies for their conservation. For in situ and ex situ genetic conservation to be effective, it is important to understand the levels and patterns of spatial genetic structure (SGS), and gene flow. We investigated SGS and pollen flow in three small, physically isolated C. legalis stands using microsatellite loci. We measured, mapped, and sampled all C. legalis trees in the three stands: 65 trees from Ibicatu population, 22 trees from MGI, and 4 trees from MGII. We also collected and genotyped 600 seeds from Ibicatu, 250 seeds from MGI, and 200 seeds from MGII. Significant SGS was detected in Ibicatu up to 150 m, but substantial levels of external pollen flow were also detected in Ibicatu (8%), although not in MGI (0.4%) or MGII (0%). Selfing was highest in MGII (18%), the smallest group of trees, compared to MGI (6.4%) and Ibicatu (6%). In MGI and MGII, there was a strong pattern of mating among near‐neighbors. Seed collection strategies for breeding, in situ and ex situ conservation and ecological restoration, must ensure collection from seed trees located at distances greater than 350 m and from several forest fragments.

Long‐distance pollen and seed dispersal and inbreeding depression in Hymenaea stigonocarpa (Fabaceae: Caesalpinioideae) in the Brazilian savannah

“…Thus, the observed IBD effective pollen dispersal and realized pollen and seed dispersal were determined in part by the size of the trees. Male fertility successes for trees with high dbh values and IBD pollen dispersal patterns have also been reported in other studies (Castilla, Pope & Jha, ; Klein, Desassis & Oddou‐Muratorio, ; Setsuko, Nagamitsu & Tomaru, ; Tambarussi et al., ), but see also Tarazi, Sebbenn, Kageyama and Vencovsky (). The high fertility of trees associated with greater dbh values may be related to the large size of the crowns and the high flower production level, which are favored by foraging pollinators (Setsuko et al., ).…”

“…Another factor contributing to the high effective pollination neighbor area ( A ep ) is that H. stigonocarpa has a high level of nectar production per flower; therefore, bats, as the pollinator vector, only need to visit a few flowers per individual before moving on to the next tree, resulting in a wide pollen foraging area. In general, these effective pollination neighbor area ( A ep ) results are higher than the results reported for other tropical trees, such as the moth‐pollinated Cordia alliodora (24.9 ha, Boshier, Chase & Bawa, ), the bee‐pollinated Carapa guianensis (6.36 ha, Cloutier, Kanashiro, Ciampi & Schoen, ), Cariniana legalis (23–37 ha, Tambarussi et al., ), Genipa americana (5.1–11.2 ha, Manoel et al., ) and Swietenia humilis (209 ha, White, Boshier & Powell, ), and the bat‐pollinated Caryocar brasiliense (5.4 ha, Collevatti et al., ) and H. courbaril (169.9 ha, Lacerda et al., ); however, the results are lower than those found for wasp‐pollinated trees, such as Ficus obtusifolia (10,780 ha), Ficus dugandii (63,180 ha), and Ficus popenoei (29,480 ha, Nason & Hamrick, ). The larger effective pollination neighbor area ( A ep ) detected here for H. stigonocarpa than in other studies for C. alliodora , C. legalis , C. guianensis , G. americana , S. humilis , C. brasiliense, and H. courbaril can mainly be explained by the combination of the ability of bats to fly long distances and the large area studied here (2,523 ha).…”

Limiting inbreeding in disjunct and isolated populations of a woody shrub

“…2014; Tambarussi et al. 2015). Karaket and Poompuang (2012) have shown that parentage could be completely resolved with four highly informative loci using COLONY when genotyping error was set to 0.05; if genotyping error was set at 0.2, parentage was assigned for 85–90% of offspring with 95% confidence.…”

Dipteryx alata Vogel (Fabaceae) a neotropical tree with high level of selfing: implication for conservation and breeding programs

“…The frequency of null alleles (Null) and the fixation index corrected for null alleles (F Null ) was estimated for adults in each population using a Bayesian approach (IIM), with 200,000 cycles and a burnin of 50,000, implemented in INEST 1.1 software (Chybicki & Burczyk 2009). Mean and individual seed tree fixation index (F m ) was estimated using the SPAGEDI 1.3 software (Hardy & Vekemans 2002 (Tambarussi et al 2015). The pollen pool gene frequencies were estimated using the MLTR 3.4 software (Ritland 2002).…”