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Genetic diversity of Couratari multiflora and Couratari guianensis (Lecythidaceae): consequences of two types of rarity in central Amazonia

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Abstract

We quantified the within-population genetic variation of Couratari multiflora and C. guianensis, two tree species found in terra firme forests of central Amazonia. Both species have some ecological features in common, but they differ in population abundance across their geographic ranges. While C. multiflora has been found only in low-density populations in all sites studied to date, C. guianensis is relatively common in some sites and very scarce in others. In a 400-ha plot, we found 41 and 29 adults of C. multiflora and C. guianensis, respectively. Twenty-two saplings of C. guianensis and 103 seedlings of C. multiflora were also examined. The mean expected heterozygosities (Hem) of seedlings and adults of C. multiflora were 0.431 and 0.436, and the mean fixation indices (Fm), 0.114 and 0.176, respectively. For C. guianensis, saplings and adults presented Hem equal to 0.425 and 0.429, and the Fm were 0.393 and 0.527, respectively. These low-density populations of two congeneric species did not differ in terms of genetic diversity, but rather they differed in terms of mean observed heterozygosity (Hom), and therefore Fm. The species with variable population density had lower Hom and greater Fm relative to the species that is always found in low-density.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Projeto Dinâmica Biológica dos Fragmentos Florestais, Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia (PDBFF/INPA), Ecologia, CP 478, 69011-970, Manaus, AM, Brazil

    Nadja Lepsch-Cunha

  2. Escola Superior de Agricultura 'Luiz de Queiroz', Universidade de São Paulo (ESALQ/USP), CP 09, Depto de Ciências Florestais, 13418-970, Piracicaba, SP, Brazil

    Paulo Y. Kageyama

  3. Escola Superior de Agricultura 'Luiz de Queiroz', Universidade de São Paulo (ESALQ/USP), C.P. 83, Depto de Genética, 13418-970, Piracicaba, SP, Brazil

    Roland Vencovsky

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  1. Nadja Lepsch-Cunha
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  2. Paulo Y. Kageyama
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  3. Roland Vencovsky
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Lepsch-Cunha, N., Kageyama, P.Y. & Vencovsky, R. Genetic diversity of Couratari multiflora and Couratari guianensis (Lecythidaceae): consequences of two types of rarity in central Amazonia. Biodiversity and Conservation 8, 1205–1218 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1008979010728

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