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Life-history variation following habitat degradation associated with differing fine-scale spatial genetic structure in a rainforest cycad

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Population Ecology

Abstract

Habitat degradation can result in drastic environmental changes potentially affecting the life-history of populations and aspects of the reproductive biology and the genetic structure within and among populations. Here, we explore how life-history differences between subpopulations from contrasting habitats may affect mating availability, which in turn will indirectly affect the strength of spatial genetic structure within populations of a tropical rainforest cycad (Zamia fairchildiana). Subpopulations exposed to higher light availability in degraded-forest habitats had male individuals that grew faster, reproduced earlier, and invested more in reproduction than in native-forest habitat subpopulations. These differences in life history resulted in degraded-habitat subpopulations showing a higher proportion of reproductive adults and greater mate availability in a reproductive season. Subpopulations in the degraded habitat showed weaker SGS, i.e., a smaller slope in the linear regression of genetic relatedness on linear distance. Environmentally induced changes in life history and subsequent changes in the strength of the SGS after habitat degradation may have important consequences for population viability and should be of concern in conservation.

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Acknowledgments

We thank the personnel at Corcovado National Park (Costa Rica) for assistance in the field. The genetic analyses were performed in the laboratories of Dr. Mohamed Noor at Louisiana State University and Dr. Loren Rieseberg at Indiana University, and we thank all people in these laboratories for their support. Funding was provided by the University of New Orleans, The Cycad Society, and NSF DEB75250 to Dr. Pamela O’Neil.

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  1. Cristina Lopez-Gallego

    Present address: Instituto de Biologia, Universidad de Antioquia, AA 1226, Medellín, Colombia

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  1. Department of Biology, University of New Orleans, New Orleans, LA, 70148, USA

    Cristina Lopez-Gallego & Pamela O’Neil

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  1. Cristina Lopez-Gallego
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  2. Pamela O’Neil
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Correspondence to Cristina Lopez-Gallego.

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Lopez-Gallego, C., O’Neil, P. Life-history variation following habitat degradation associated with differing fine-scale spatial genetic structure in a rainforest cycad. Popul Ecol 52, 191–201 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10144-009-0171-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10144-009-0171-3

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