Abstract
Cires, E., Perez, R., Bueno, A. & Fernandez Prieto, J.A. 2013. Genetic diversity in peripheral and central populations of the Cantabrian endemism Genista legionensis (Pau) M. Lainz (Fabaceae). Anales Jard. Bot. Madrid 70(1): 91-96. The impact of habitat fragmentation and isolation on the genetic diversity of populations has attracted much attention in studies of plant conservation. The central-peripheral population hypothesis predicts that peripheral populations have reduced genetic variability, so it is often assumed that they deserve higher conservation priority over central populations. In this work, using amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP), we studied the genetic diversity of central and peripheral populations of the Cantabrian endemism Genista legionensis (Fabaceae). At the species level, percentage of polymorphic bands, Nei heterozygosity and Shannon information index were PPB = 89.21%, HE = 0.246 and I = 0.377, respectively. The study revealed that peripheral populations were smaller in number, with lower levels of genetic diversity compared to the central populations. Furthermore, analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) indicated that most of the variability was partitioned among populations, also supported by principal coordinates analysis. This study indicates that the decrease in diversity from central to peripheral populations could be explained as a result of edge effect and fragmentation through the enhanced inbreeding and genetic drift, and thus supported the view that habitat fragmentation and related edge effect reduce the population genetic diversity. However, the presence of discriminating fragments in the peripheral populations suggests their conservation in order to preserve the genetic diversity in the Cantabrian endemism G. legionensis.
Highlights
Genista L. is a genus of spiny and non-spiny shrubs centred in the Mediterranean region, which includes over 90 species divided into three subgenera and ten sections (Gibbs, 1996)
Low levels of genetic diversity were found in peripheral populations: the percentage of polymorphic bands ranged from 36.89% (GA) to 42.07% (ML), the mean observed number of alleles per locus
Our results support this scenario since the two peripheral populations of Genista legionensis exhibited lower genetic diversity than the central population
Summary
Genista L. is a genus of spiny and non-spiny shrubs centred in the Mediterranean region, which includes over 90 species divided into three subgenera and ten sections (Gibbs, 1996). In the Iberian Peninsula, the genus is widespread in the Mediterranean part of the country and represented by thirty-nine species in the Iberian flora (see Talavera, 1999). It is prevalent at the transition zones between the Mediterranean and Euroatlantic bioclimatic regions. This is the case of Genista legionensis (Pau) M. (2007) analyzed its frequency in the catalogue of threatened vascular plants of Castilla y León and suggested the criteria of “frequent endemism”. (2007) suggested its exclusion from the catalogue of threatened vascular plants of Asturias. In the País Vasco where only one locality has been reported (Monte Lucero, Vizcaya), G. legio-
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