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Strategies for conservation for disturbed Prosopis alba (Leguminosae, Mimosoidae) forests based on mating system and pollen dispersal parameters

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Abstract

Prosopis species forests in Argentina are increasingly fragmented in the last years mainly by the deforestation activity without any reforestation strategy, the establishment of different crop plantations, and natural fires. The consequence of habitat fragmentation on the genetic potential of Prosopis alba requires a fine-scale analysis of population structure, in particular mating system and pollen dispersal. By means of short sequences repeats, we analyzed a fragmented population of this species in Santiago del Estero (Argentina). Most genetic variation was observed among families within zones (65.5%), whereas the lowest proportion corresponded to the differentiation among zones (2.8%). The fine analysis of structure at family level suggests that this population is complete outcrosser and there is a low but significant biparental inbreeding. Outcrossing rates differ among mother plants and the proportion of full sibs within mother plants ranged from 64% for seeds proceeding from the same pod to 10% for seeds from different pods. The average pollen dispersal distance was estimated to be among 5.36 and 30.92 m by using the KinDist or TwoGener approach. About seven pollen donors are siring each progeny array and the number of seed trees necessary for seed collection aiming to retain an effective population size of 100 was estimated in 16–39 individuals depending on the relatedness estimator used. Pollen and seed dispersal would be limited, what determines the need of conserving short distant patches to avoid the effects of inbreeding and drift within populations as a consequence of intensive use resource for agriculture.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by funding from Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET) PIP 11220090100147 and Universidad de Buenos Aires (EX 201 and 20020100100008) given to JCV and BOS. A special thanks to the Lic. Ariel Guionet from the Servicio de Secuenciación y Genotipificado from Departamento de Ecología Genética y Evolución, FCEyN, UBA.

Ethical standards

In order to fulfill the objectives proposed, the experiments conducted comply with the current Argentine laws and all the trials were made without disturbing the natural ecosystem taking into consideration the current legislation in the country. For the experimental laboratory practice, done at Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales (Universidad de Buenos Aires), we followed the recommendations from Servicio de Higiene y Seguridad (SHyS, FCEyN, UBA).

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interests.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratorio de Genética, Departamento de Ecología, Genética y Evolución, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina

    C. Bessega, C. L. Pometti, B. O. Saidman & J. C. Vilardi

  2. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Buenos Aires, Argentina

    C. Bessega, C. L. Pometti, B. O. Saidman & J. C. Vilardi

  3. Estación Experimental Fernández, Departamento de Robles, Santiago del Estero, Argentina

    M. Ewens

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  1. C. Bessega
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  2. C. L. Pometti
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  3. M. Ewens
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  4. B. O. Saidman
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  5. J. C. Vilardi
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Correspondence to C. Bessega.

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Communicated by P. Ingvarsson

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Bessega, C., Pometti, C.L., Ewens, M. et al. Strategies for conservation for disturbed Prosopis alba (Leguminosae, Mimosoidae) forests based on mating system and pollen dispersal parameters. Tree Genetics & Genomes 8, 277–288 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11295-011-0439-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11295-011-0439-6

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