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Negligence in the Atlantic forest, northern Brazil: a case study of an endangered orchid

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Abstract

Currently, many Brazilian orchids are threatened with extinction resulting from habitat loss and intense harvesting pressure stemming from their value as ornamental plants. Therefore, the genetic diversity in remaining populations is fundamental to the survival of these species in natural environments. In order to inform conservation strategies, this study evaluated the genetic diversity and structure of Cattleya granulosa populations. The sample consisted of 151 individuals from 12 populations in the Atlantic Forest, northeastern Brazil, evaluated using 91 ISSR markers. Genetic variability was assessed through molecular variance, diversity indexes, clusters of genotypes through Bayesian analysis, and tests for genetic bottlenecks. From all polymorphic loci, genetic diversity (HE) varied between 0.210 and 0.321 and the Shannon index ranged from 0.323 and 0.472. Significant genetic differentiation between populations (ΦST = 0.391; P < 0.0001) resulted in the division of the populations into five groups based on the log-likelihood Bayesian analysis. We found significant positive correlation between geographical and genetic distances between populations (r = 0.794; P = 0.017), indicating isolation by distance. Patterns of allelic diversity within populations suggest the occurrence of bottlenecks in most C. granulosa populations (n = 8). Therefore, in order to maintain the genetic diversity of the species, the conservation of spatially distant groups is necessary.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) for providing a doctoral fellowship to C.G. Fajardo. This work was supported by Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq, Brazil). We would like to acknowledge J. Felismino, R. Costa, E. Mendonça, J. G. Jardins, Julião from the Reserva Biológica Guaribas, and V. G. Pinto from Cristal Mineração do Brasil LTDA for providing research facilities for field work. We thank Dr. Evelyn Nimmo for editing the English of the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Unidade Acadêmica Especializada em Ciências Agrárias, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, Macaíba, RN, CEP 59280-000, Brazil

    Cristiane Gouvêa Fajardo & Fábio de Almeida Vieira

  2. Departamento de Fitotecnia, Universidade Federal da Paraíba, Areia, PB, CEP 58397-000, Brazil

    Leonardo Pessoa Felix

  3. Departamento de Biologia Celular e Genética, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, Natal, RN, CEP 59078-970, Brazil

    Wagner Franco Molina

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  1. Cristiane Gouvêa Fajardo
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  2. Fábio de Almeida Vieira
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  3. Leonardo Pessoa Felix
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  4. Wagner Franco Molina
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Correspondence to Fábio de Almeida Vieira.

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Communicated by Daniel Sanchez Mata.

This article belongs to the Topical Collection: Forest and plantation biodiversity.

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Supplementary material 1

Estimates of Nei’s genetic distance (1978), below the diagonal, and geographic distance (Km) above the diagonal, between the populations of Cattleya granulosa. The minimum and maximum values are shown in bold. (DOCX 28 kb)

Supplementary material 2

Principal component analysis of populations of C. granulosa based on the Nei’s genetic identity. tatistics (B). Populations are bounded by black vertical bar. (DOCX 55 kb)

Supplementary material 3

Plotting of the mean LnP(D) values from the Bayesian approach (full line) and Evanno’s ΔK (broken line). Error bars are standard deviations of LnP(D) values. (DOCX 27 kb)

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Fajardo, C.G., de Almeida Vieira, F., Felix, L.P. et al. Negligence in the Atlantic forest, northern Brazil: a case study of an endangered orchid. Biodivers Conserv 26, 1047–1063 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-016-1285-5

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