Abstract
If genetic variation is often positively correlated with population sizes and the presence of nearby populations and suitable habitats, landscape proxies could inform conservation decisions without genetic analyses. For six Florida scrub endemic plants (Dicerandra frutescens, Eryngium cuneifolium, Hypericum cumulicola, Liatris ohlingerae, Nolina brittoniana, and Warea carteri), we relate two measures of genetic variation, expected heterozygosity and alleles per polymorphic locus (APL), to population size and landscape variables. Presettlement areas were estimated based on soil preferences and GIS soils maps. Four species showed no genetic patterns related to population or landscape factors. The other two species showed significant but inconsistent patterns. ForLiatris ohlingerae, APL was negatively related to population density and weakly, positively related to remaining presettlement habitat within 32 km. ForNolina brittoniana, APL increased with population size. The rather weak effects of population area/size and both past and current landscape structures suggest that genetic variation needs to be directly measured and not inferred for conservation planning.
Highlights
Protecting plant genetic variation is a conservation goal [1], as genetic variation reflects phylogenetic and population history, which is associated with fitness and evolutionary potential [2, 3], and can influence ecosystem processes [4, 5]
For four of the six species (D. frutescens, E. cuneifolium, H. cumulicola, and W. carteri), we found no significant relationships between genetic variation and predictor variables (Table 2)
For L. ohlingerae, the number of alleles per polymorphic locus were lower in high density populations and higher in populations with larger areas of habitat remaining extant within 32 km (Table 2)
Summary
Protecting plant genetic variation is a conservation goal [1], as genetic variation reflects phylogenetic and population history, which is associated with fitness and evolutionary potential [2, 3], and can influence ecosystem processes [4, 5]. If a large percentage of population-level genetic variation (as measured by values such as expected heterozygosity and alleles per polymorphic locus) could be predicted from such ecological and landscape measures as population size, isolation, and nearby suitable habitat, conservation decisions intended to protect genetic variation could be made without the need for collection of costly and time-consuming molecular data. This study focuses on several factors potentially affecting within-species genetic patterns. Population-level genetic variation is affected by life history, being slightly higher in outcrossing species [8].
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