Abstract
The Western Ghats (WG) in India is recognized as one of the global biodiversity hotspots which have high proportion of endemic species and the medicinally important tree species. Due to medicinal importance and being found on the forest fringes,Symplocos racemosaRoxb. is highly susceptible to anthropogenic activities. The present study was undertaken to systematically analyze the effects of anthropogenic activities on the genetic diversity and population structure ofS. racemosaand to generate preliminary data for conservation purposes. We analyzed the variation in intergenic sequences of chloroplast and mitochondrial genomes from seven sites ofS. racemosasampled from protected, semiprotected, and disturbed areas of WG. Total diversity was high although within-sites diversity was low. The protected sites were highly diverse, while the disturbed areas possessed less genetic diversity indicating the effect of anthropogenic activities.
Highlights
The Western Ghats (WG) in India is recognized as one of the world’s ten most important biodiversity hotspots and has over 5000 species of flowering plants [1]
Genetic measures are based on genealogically unordered data that do not distinguish between these alternatives and the current population structure is typically assumed to reflect an equilibrium level of gene flow per generation [4]
We evaluated the genetic variation existing in intergenic sequences of cp and mt DNA of S. racemosa to document the patterns of genetic diversity within and among the sites in the context of effect of habitat disturbance on its genetic diversity and need for conservation
Summary
The Western Ghats (WG) in India is recognized as one of the world’s ten most important biodiversity hotspots and has over 5000 species of flowering plants [1] It covers an area of 160,000 km, with an elevational range of 300–2700 m and a latitudinal extent of 12∘ (8∘N–20∘N). Genetic measures are based on genealogically unordered data that do not distinguish between these alternatives and the current population structure is typically assumed to reflect an equilibrium level of gene flow per generation [4]. This equilibrium perspective can be misleading, for the species where recent history is a major determinant of population structure. It is known that the levels of genetic variation within and among natural populations provide fundamental information for both the understanding of the microevolutionary processes that bring about divergence
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