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Santos AS, Cazetta E, Faria D, Lima TM, Lopes MTG, Carvalho CDS, Alves‐Pereira A, Morante‐Filho JC, Gaiotto FA. Tropical forest loss and geographic location drive the functional genomic diversity of an endangered palm tree. Evol Appl 2023; 16:1257-1273. [PMID: 37492151 PMCID: PMC10363835 DOI: 10.1111/eva.13525] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/17/2022] [Revised: 12/10/2022] [Accepted: 12/13/2022] [Indexed: 07/27/2023] Open
Abstract
Human activity has diminished forests in different terrestrial ecosystems. This is well illustrated in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest, which still hosts high levels of species richness and endemism, even with only 28% of its original extent remaining. The consequences of such forest loss in remaining populations can be investigated with several approaches, including the genomic perspective, which allows a broader understanding of how human disturbance influences the genetic variability in natural populations. In this context, our study investigated the genomic responses of Euterpe edulis Martius, an endangered palm tree, in forest remnants located in landscapes presenting different forest cover amount and composed by distinct bird assemblage that disperse its seeds. We sampled 22 areas of the Brazilian Atlantic Forest in four regions using SNP markers inserted into transcribed regions of the genome of E. edulis, distinguishing neutral loci from those putatively under natural selection (outlier). We demonstrate that populations show patterns of structure and genetic variability that differ between regions, as a possible reflection of deforestation and biogeographic histories. Deforested landscapes still maintain high neutral genetic diversity due to gene flow over short distances. Overall, we not only support previous evidence with microsatellite markers, but also show that deforestation can influence the genetic variability outlier, in the scenario of selective pressures imposed by these stressful environments. Based on our findings, we suggest that, to protect genetic diversity in the long term, it is necessary to reforest and enrich deforested areas, using seeds from populations in the same management target region.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alesandro Souza Santos
- Laboratório de Ecologia Aplicada à Conservação, Programa de Pós‐Graduação em Ecologia e Conservação da BiodiversidadeUniversidade Estadual de Santa CruzIlhéusBrazil
- Laboratório de Marcadores Moleculares, Centro de Biotecnologia e GenéticaUniversidade Estadual de Santa CruzIlhéusBrazil
| | - Eliana Cazetta
- Laboratório de Ecologia Aplicada à Conservação, Programa de Pós‐Graduação em Ecologia e Conservação da BiodiversidadeUniversidade Estadual de Santa CruzIlhéusBrazil
| | - Deborah Faria
- Laboratório de Ecologia Aplicada à Conservação, Programa de Pós‐Graduação em Ecologia e Conservação da BiodiversidadeUniversidade Estadual de Santa CruzIlhéusBrazil
| | - Thâmara Moura Lima
- Instituto Federal de Educação, Ciência e Tecnologia da Bahia – Campus SeabraSeabraBrazil
| | | | | | | | - José Carlos Morante‐Filho
- Laboratório de Ecologia Aplicada à Conservação, Programa de Pós‐Graduação em Ecologia e Conservação da BiodiversidadeUniversidade Estadual de Santa CruzIlhéusBrazil
| | - Fernanda Amato Gaiotto
- Laboratório de Ecologia Aplicada à Conservação, Programa de Pós‐Graduação em Ecologia e Conservação da BiodiversidadeUniversidade Estadual de Santa CruzIlhéusBrazil
- Laboratório de Marcadores Moleculares, Centro de Biotecnologia e GenéticaUniversidade Estadual de Santa CruzIlhéusBrazil
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Cerqueira AF, Benchimol M, Sousa‐Santos C, Bezerra IM, Santana dos Santos M, Dalmolin ÂC, Gaiotto FA, Mielke MS. Trends and gaps in the literature on native palms of the Brazilian Atlantic Forest. AUSTRAL ECOL 2023. [DOI: 10.1111/aec.13322] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 04/05/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Amanda Freitas Cerqueira
- Laboratório de Ecologia Aplicada à Conservação Universidade Estadual de Santa Cruz CEP: 45662‐900 Ilhéus Rodovia Jorge Amado km 16 Brazil
- Centro de Formação em Ciências Agroflorestais Universidade Federal do Sul da Bahia (UFSB) CEP: 45653‐919 Ilhéus BR 415 km 22 Brazil
| | - Maíra Benchimol
- Laboratório de Ecologia Aplicada à Conservação Universidade Estadual de Santa Cruz CEP: 45662‐900 Ilhéus Rodovia Jorge Amado km 16 Brazil
| | - Catriane Sousa‐Santos
- Departamento de Ciências Biológicas Universidade Estadual de Santa Cruz CEP: 45662‐900 Ilhéus Rodovia Jorge Amado km 16 Brazil
| | - Inajara Marques Bezerra
- Departamento de Ciências Biológicas Universidade Estadual de Santa Cruz CEP: 45662‐900 Ilhéus Rodovia Jorge Amado km 16 Brazil
| | - Martielly Santana dos Santos
- Departamento de Ciências Biológicas Universidade Estadual de Santa Cruz CEP: 45662‐900 Ilhéus Rodovia Jorge Amado km 16 Brazil
| | - Ândrea Carla Dalmolin
- Centro de Formação em Ciências Agroflorestais Universidade Federal do Sul da Bahia (UFSB) CEP: 45653‐919 Ilhéus BR 415 km 22 Brazil
| | - Fernanda Amato Gaiotto
- Laboratório de Ecologia Aplicada à Conservação Universidade Estadual de Santa Cruz CEP: 45662‐900 Ilhéus Rodovia Jorge Amado km 16 Brazil
| | - Marcelo Schramm Mielke
- Laboratório de Ecologia Aplicada à Conservação Universidade Estadual de Santa Cruz CEP: 45662‐900 Ilhéus Rodovia Jorge Amado km 16 Brazil
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Krishnan A, Osuri AM, Krishnadas M. Small mammals reduce distance dependence and increase seed predation risk in tropical rainforest fragments. Biotropica 2022. [DOI: 10.1111/btp.13137] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/30/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Aparna Krishnan
- Post‐Graduate Programme in Wildlife Biology and Conservation National Centre for Biological Sciences Bangalore Karnataka India
- Nature Conservation Foundation Mysore Karnataka India
| | | | - Meghna Krishnadas
- Laboratory for Conservation of Endangered Species CSIR – Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology Hyderabad Telangana India
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Mattos ID, Zimbres B, Marinho-Filho J. Habitat Specificity Modulates the Response of Small Mammals to Habitat Fragmentation, Loss, and Quality in a Neotropical Savanna. Front Ecol Evol 2021. [DOI: 10.3389/fevo.2021.751315] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Landscape conversion of natural environments into agriculture and pasture are driving a marked biodiversity decline in the tropics. Consequences of fragmentation might depend upon habitat amount in the landscape, while the quality of remnants can also affect some species. These factors have been poorly studied in relation to different spatial scales. Furthermore, the impacts of these human-driven alterations may go beyond species loss, possibly causing a loss of ecosystem function and services. In this study, we investigated how changes in landscape configuration (patch size and isolation), habitat loss (considering a landscape gradient of 10, 25, and 40% of remnant forest cover), and habitat quality (forest structure) affect small mammal abundance, richness, taxonomic/functional diversity, and species composition in fragmented landscapes of semideciduous forests in the Brazilian Cerrado. Analyses were performed separately for habitat generalists and forest specialists. We live-trapped small mammals and measured habitat quality descriptors four times in 36 forest patches over the years 2018 and 2019, encompassing both rainy and dry seasons, with a total capture effort of 45,120 trap-nights. Regression analyses indicated that the effect of landscape configuration was not dependent on the proportion of habitat amount in the landscape to determine small mammal assemblages. However, both patch size and habitat loss impacted different aspects of the assemblages in distinct ways. Smaller patches were mainly linked to an overall increase in small mammal abundance, while the abundance of habitat generalists was also negatively affected by habitat amount. Generalist species richness was determined by the proportion of habitat amount in the landscape. Specialist richness was influenced by patch forest quality only, suggesting that species with more demanding habitat requirements might respond to fragmentation and habitat loss at finer scales. Taxonomic or functional diversity were not influenced by landscape structure or habitat quality. However, patch size and habitat amount in the landscape were the major drivers of change in small mammal species composition in semideciduous forests in the Brazilian savanna.
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Gopal A, Mudappa D, Raman TRS, Naniwadekar R. Seed fates of four rainforest tree species in the fragmented forests of Anamalais in the southern Western Ghats, India. ACTA OECOLOGICA 2021. [DOI: 10.1016/j.actao.2020.103698] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/22/2022]
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Cerqueira AF, Rocha-Santos L, Benchimol M, Mielke MS. Habitat loss and canopy openness mediate leaf trait plasticity of an endangered palm in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest. Oecologia 2021; 196:619-631. [PMID: 33630171 DOI: 10.1007/s00442-021-04879-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/08/2020] [Accepted: 02/10/2021] [Indexed: 10/22/2022]
Abstract
Forest cover and light availability comprise key factors for plant establishment in tropical forests. In the Brazilian Atlantic Forest (AF), Euterpe edulis (Areacaceae) is an endangered and keystone food resource contributing to forest functionality. We investigated the influence of forest loss and light availability on leaf traits and acclimatization of young individuals of E. edulis in AF fragments. We aimed to understand (i) how canopy openness and transmitted light are affected by forest cover at the landscape scale and the individual palm level; and (ii) how local and landscape features, combined and separately, affect key leaf traits widely known to be related to plant growth. The study was carried out in 15 forest fragments, ranging from 16 to 97% of surrounding forest cover. In each fragment, we sampled 10-20 individuals of E. edulis and analyzed nine leaf traits related to morphological, biochemical and chemical aspects. We also took hemispherical photographs to estimate canopy openness on the top of each E. edulis and also within fragment plots. We found that young plants predominantly occurred in more shaded environments. Additionally, E. edulis succeeded to acclimate in six of the nine traits analyzed, with most traits being affected by local and landscape features. It is likely that the lack of variation in traits related to protection against herbivory are limiting the species establishment in highly deforested landscapes. Our results provide novel evidence that both landscape and local contexts affect the leaf traits of E. edulis young plants leading to biochemical, chemical and morphological adjustments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Amanda F Cerqueira
- Laboratório de Ecologia Aplicada À Conservação, Departamento de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Estadual de Santa Cruz, Rodovia Jorge Amado km 16, Ilhéus, Bahia, 42662-900, Brazil.
| | - Larissa Rocha-Santos
- Laboratório de Ecologia Aplicada À Conservação, Departamento de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Estadual de Santa Cruz, Rodovia Jorge Amado km 16, Ilhéus, Bahia, 42662-900, Brazil
| | - Maíra Benchimol
- Laboratório de Ecologia Aplicada À Conservação, Departamento de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Estadual de Santa Cruz, Rodovia Jorge Amado km 16, Ilhéus, Bahia, 42662-900, Brazil
| | - Marcelo S Mielke
- Laboratório de Ecologia Aplicada À Conservação, Departamento de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Estadual de Santa Cruz, Rodovia Jorge Amado km 16, Ilhéus, Bahia, 42662-900, Brazil
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Seed Removal Rates in Forest Remnants Respond to Forest Loss at the Landscape Scale. FORESTS 2020. [DOI: 10.3390/f11111144] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
Seed removal is a key component of seed dispersal and may be influenced by both landscape-scale and local attributes, and it has been used as an indicator of the intensity of interactions between ecosystem components. We examined how the seed removal rates, which integrate the activity of seed dispersers and seed predators, vary with landscape-scale forest cover. We collected data under 34 trees belonging to two zoochoric species (Helicostylis tomentosa (Poepp. and Endl.) J. F. Macbr. and Inga vera Willd.) in 17 remnants in the Brazilian Atlantic forest, with different percentages of forest cover. The seed removal rate was estimated using a fast method based on the abundance of intact fruits and fruit scraps on the ground. The amount of forest cover affected the rate of seed removal in a humpbacked shape, with a maximum seed removal rate at intermediate forest cover. Seed removal rates must be related to the amount of food resources offered and diversity of dispersers and predators in the region. In landscapes with intermediate forest amount, there is a better balance between supply and demand for fruits, leading to a higher seed removal rate than more deforested or forested landscape. Our results also show that local factors, such as crop size and canopy surface, together with forest cover amount, are also important to the removal rate, depending on the species. In addition, our results showed that plant–animal interactions are occurring in all fragments, but the health status of these forests is similar to disturbed forests, even in sites immersed in forested landscapes.
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Soares LASS, Cazetta E, Santos LR, França DDS, Gaiotto FA. Anthropogenic Disturbances Eroding the Genetic Diversity of a Threatened Palm Tree: A Multiscale Approach. Front Genet 2019; 10:1090. [PMID: 31788000 PMCID: PMC6855268 DOI: 10.3389/fgene.2019.01090] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/01/2019] [Accepted: 10/09/2019] [Indexed: 12/02/2022] Open
Abstract
Habitat loss and the illegal exploitation of natural resources are among the main drivers of species extinction around the world. These disturbances act at different scales, once changes in the landscape composition and configuration operate at large scales and exploitation of natural resources at local scales. Evidence suggests that both scales are capable of triggering genetic erosion in the remaining populations. However, most of the studies so far did not evaluate simultaneously the effects of these disturbances on genetic diversity and structure of plants. In this study, we used a multiple scale approach to empirically evaluate the impacts caused by local and landscape scale disturbances in the genetic diversity and structure of an endangered palm tree, Euterpe edulis. We sampled and genotyped with microsatellite markers 544 juveniles of E. edulis in 17 fragments of Atlantic Forest in Brazil. In addition, we estimated the local logging rate and the forest cover and isolation at landscape scale. We found that the palm populations have not undergone any recent bottleneck events and that only logging intensification had affected the fixation index and the number of private alleles. Additionally, we did not detect any evidence of spatial genetic structure or genetic divergence associated with environmental disturbance variables at different scales. However, we identified distinct genetic clusters, which may indicate a reduction of gene flow between fragments that were previously a continuous habitat. Our results show that local disturbances, which act directly on population size reduction, such as logging, modified the genetic diversity more rapidly, whereas genetic structure is probably more influenced by large-scale modifications. In this way, to maximize the conservation efforts of economically exploited species, we recommend to increase the inspection to reduce the illegal exploitation, and reforestation of degraded areas, in order to increase the gene flow in Atlantic Forest fragments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Leiza Aparecida Souza Serafim Soares
- Applied Ecology and Conservation Lab, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ecologia e Conservação da Biodiversidade, Universidade Estadual de Santa Cruz, Ilhéus, Brazil
| | - Eliana Cazetta
- Applied Ecology and Conservation Lab, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ecologia e Conservação da Biodiversidade, Universidade Estadual de Santa Cruz, Ilhéus, Brazil
| | - Larissa Rocha Santos
- Applied Ecology and Conservation Lab, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ecologia e Conservação da Biodiversidade, Universidade Estadual de Santa Cruz, Ilhéus, Brazil
| | - Daniele de Souza França
- Laboratório de Marcadores Moleculares, Centro de Biotecnologia e Genética, Universidade Estadual de Santa Cruz, Ilhéus, Brazil
| | - Fernanda Amato Gaiotto
- Applied Ecology and Conservation Lab, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ecologia e Conservação da Biodiversidade, Universidade Estadual de Santa Cruz, Ilhéus, Brazil.,Laboratório de Marcadores Moleculares, Centro de Biotecnologia e Genética, Universidade Estadual de Santa Cruz, Ilhéus, Brazil
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Rocha-Santos L, Benchimol M, Mayfield MM, Faria D, Pessoa MS, Talora DC, Mariano-Neto E, Cazetta E. Functional decay in tree community within tropical fragmented landscapes: Effects of landscape-scale forest cover. PLoS One 2017; 12:e0175545. [PMID: 28403166 PMCID: PMC5389823 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0175545] [Citation(s) in RCA: 38] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/18/2017] [Accepted: 03/28/2017] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
As tropical rainforests are cleared, forest remnants are increasingly isolated within agricultural landscapes. Understanding how forest loss impacts on species diversity can, therefore, contribute to identifying the minimum amount of habitat required for biodiversity maintenance in human-modified landscapes. Here, we evaluate how the amount of forest cover, at the landscape scale, affects patterns of species richness, abundance, key functional traits and common taxonomic families of adult trees in twenty Brazilian Atlantic rainforest landscapes. We found that as forest cover decreases, both tree community richness and abundance decline, without exhibiting a threshold. At the family-level, species richness and abundance of the Myrtaceae and Sapotaceae were also negatively impacted by the percent forest remaining at the landscape scale. For functional traits, we found a reduction in shade-tolerant, animal-dispersed and small-seeded species following a decrease in the amount of forest retained in landscapes. These results suggest that the amount of forest in a landscape is driving non-random losses in phylogenetic and functional tree diversity in Brazil's remaining Atlantic rainforests. Our study highlights potential restraints on the conservation value of Atlantic rainforest remnants in deforested landscapes in the future.
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Affiliation(s)
- Larissa Rocha-Santos
- Graduate Program in Ecology and Biodiversity Conservation, Applied Ecology and Conservation Lab, State University of Santa Cruz, Ilhéus, Bahia, Brazil
- * E-mail:
| | - Maíra Benchimol
- Graduate Program in Ecology and Biodiversity Conservation, Applied Ecology and Conservation Lab, State University of Santa Cruz, Ilhéus, Bahia, Brazil
| | - Margaret M. Mayfield
- School of Biological Sciences, The University of Queensland, St Lucia Campus, Queensland, Australia
| | - Deborah Faria
- Graduate Program in Ecology and Biodiversity Conservation, Applied Ecology and Conservation Lab, State University of Santa Cruz, Ilhéus, Bahia, Brazil
| | - Michaele S. Pessoa
- Graduate Program in Ecology and Biodiversity Conservation, Applied Ecology and Conservation Lab, State University of Santa Cruz, Ilhéus, Bahia, Brazil
| | - Daniela C. Talora
- Graduate Program in Ecology and Biodiversity Conservation, Applied Ecology and Conservation Lab, State University of Santa Cruz, Ilhéus, Bahia, Brazil
| | - Eduardo Mariano-Neto
- Botany department, Biology institute, Federal University of Bahia, Salvador, Bahia, Brazil
| | - Eliana Cazetta
- Graduate Program in Ecology and Biodiversity Conservation, Applied Ecology and Conservation Lab, State University of Santa Cruz, Ilhéus, Bahia, Brazil
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