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Genetic diversity and floral dimorphism in Limonium dendroides (Plumbaginaceae), a woody Canarian species on the way of extinction

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Abstract

We combined reproductive and allozyme data to assess the levels and structuring of genetic variation and propose conservation guidelines in Limonium dendroides, a critically endangered Canarian endemic Plumbaginaceae featuring the floral and pollen pap/cob dimorphisms associated with the heteromorphic diallelic self-incompatibility system described for this family. Although seed germination has been reported in greenhouse conditions, the detection of individuals of only one morph in all wild subpopulations surveyed explains the extremely limited seed production and recruitment in nature. The geographical proximity and genetic closeness between some subpopulations, together with absence of inbreeding depression symptoms, and a higher allozyme variation in the cultured or reintroduced offspring than in their parental wild subpopulations indicate the viability of occasional compatible matings, thereby suggesting that even low levels of gene flow could mitigate the deleterious effects of fragmentation on subpopulation survival. However, our overall results indicate that L. dendroides is in a critical conservation situation where the utter scarcity of compatible mates within the subpopulations, radically low subpopulation sizes, poor inter-subpopulation gene flow, impoverished genetic variation, herbivore grazing, and the extreme habitat topography have overridden the reproductive capabilities of the species. According to our results, once morph types in all wild and cultured specimens can be determined, inducing fertile crosses through mixed reinforcements is advisable only in the most extremely isolated and small subpopulations (Argaga and Guarimiar) using individuals from the nearest ones (Azadoe and Palmarejo), whilst non-mixed reinforcements seem viable in the remaining subpopulations. Only when the subpopulations attain higher seed production and recruitment rates will it be adequate to collect seeds for their storage at a germplasm bank facility.

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Acknowledgments

This research is part of the collaborative project PI1998/043, funded to JPP and RF by the Dirección General de Universidades e Investigación of the Gobierno de Canarias. We thank the Cabildo de Gran Canaria for continued support to our research at the Jardín Botánico Canario “Viera y Clavijo”, and for the pre-doctoral research grant to CSG. We also thank the invaluable help of P. Romero, C. Samarín, J. Casanova, R. Mesa, J. Naranjo, J. Navarro, J. Cruz and of the staff from the plant nurseries and greenhouses at the JBCVC.

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  1. Departamento de Biología Reproductiva y Micromorfología, Jardín Botánico Canario “Viera y Clavijo”, Ap. de correos 14 de Tafira Alta, 35017, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain

    Carolina Suárez-García, Julia Pérez de Paz & Rosa Febles

  2. Departamento de Biodiversidad Molecular, Jardín Botánico Canario “Viera y Clavijo”, Ap. de correos 14 de Tafira Alta, 35017, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain

    Juli Caujapé-Castells

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  1. Carolina Suárez-García
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  2. Julia Pérez de Paz
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Correspondence to Julia Pérez de Paz.

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Suárez-García, C., de Paz, J.P., Febles, R. et al. Genetic diversity and floral dimorphism in Limonium dendroides (Plumbaginaceae), a woody Canarian species on the way of extinction. Plant Syst Evol 280, 105–117 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00606-009-0166-8

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