Evolution of Avicennia schaueriana in face of historical and current climate changes: Functional genomics and ecophysiology

• Grant number: 13/26793-7
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate
• Start date: May 01, 2014
• End date: August 31, 2017
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Genetics - Plant Genetics
• Principal Investigator: Anete Pereira de Souza
• Grantee: Mariana Vargas Cruz
• Host Institution: Centro de Biologia Molecular e Engenharia Genética (CBMEG). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Mangroves are ecosystems which occur on the border between the land and sea in tropical and subtropical latitudes and which perform important ecological functions and also serve as transitional or permanent habitat for an extremely diverse fauna. However, urban development, industrial, agricultural and aquaculture cluttered plus the recent accelerated process of global climate change (GCC) threaten the future of these ecosystems and their consequences are difficult to predict. In order to understand and generate information for the conservation of mangroves occurring in the Brazilian coast, our research group has studied the neutral genetic variability of five of the six mangrove species found in the country, generating information about its evolutionary history, its biology and the distribution of its diversity. The following proposed project aims to continue the studies of the Brazilian mangrove trees with the objectives of understanding the genetic and ecophysiological responses of Avicennia schaueriana to contrasting temperatures and also to understand how selective pressures associated with GCC from the past can affect the behavior and development of these plants in a scenario of future changes. To achieve this goal, seedlings collected in the northern and southern limits of the species' distribution will be cultivated under controlled growth conditions and under different temperature regimes. This approach will allow us to compare the responses of different populations to the same environment and also the response of a given population to different scenarios. Periodic evaluation of key ecophysiological traits and analysis of patterns and levels of gene expression, by massive sequencing of RNA (RNA-seq), will be performed. The results will have great value for the conservation and for management and restoration plans for these ecosystems in the face of GCC.

Scientific publications

(5)

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

CRUZ, MARIANA VARGAS; MORI, GUSTAVO MARUYAMA; SIGNORI-MULLER, CAROLINE; DA SILVA, CARLA CRISTINA; OH, DONG-HA; DASSANAYAKE, MAHESHI; ZUCCHI, MARIA IMACULADA; OLIVEIRA, RAFAEL SILVA; DE SOUZA, ANETE PEREIRA. Local adaptation of a dominant coastal tree to freshwater availability and solar radiation suggested by genomic and ecophysiological approaches. SCIENTIFIC REPORTS, v. 9, DEC 27 2019. (15/24346-9, 14/22821-9, 11/52072-0, 13/08086-1, 13/26793-7)

DA SILVA, MICHELE FERNANDES; CRUZ, MARIANA VARGAS; VIDAL JUNIOR, JOAO DE DEUS; ZUCCHI, MARIA IMACULADA; MORI, GUSTAVO MARUYAMA; DE SOUZA, ANETE PEREIRA. Geographical and environmental contributions to genomic divergence in mangrove forests. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, v. 132, n. 3, p. 573-589, MAR 2021. (13/26793-7, 18/18431-1, 14/22821-9, 20/00203-2, 13/08086-1)

CRUZ, MARIANA VARGAS; MORI, GUSTAVO MARUYAMA; OH, DONG-HA; DASSANAYAKE, MAHESHI; ZUCCHI, MARIA IMACULADA; OLIVEIRA, RAFAEL SILVA; DE SOUZA, ANETE PEREIRA. Molecular responses to freshwater limitation in the mangrove tree Avicennia germinans (Acanthaceae). Molecular Ecology, v. 29, n. 2, DEC 2019. (11/52072-0, 13/26793-7, 13/08086-1, 14/22821-9)

BAJAY, STEPHANIE K.; CRUZ, MARIANA V.; DA SILVA, CARLA C.; MURAD, NATALIA F.; BRANDAO, MARCELO M.; DE SOUZA, ANETE P.. Extremophiles as a Model of a Natural Ecosystem: Transcriptional Coordination of Genes Reveals Distinct Selective Responses of Plants Under Climate Change Scenarios. FRONTIERS IN PLANT SCIENCE, v. 9, SEP 19 2018. (14/11426-1, 13/26793-7, 11/00417-3)

MORI, GUSTAVO MARUYAMA; MADEIRA, ANDRE GUILHERME; CRUZ, MARIANA VARGAS; TSUDA, YOSHIAKI; TAKAYAMA, KOJI; MATSUKI, YU; SUYAMA, YOSHIHISA; IWASAKI, TAKAYA; DE SOUZA, ANETE PEREIRA; ZUCCHI, MARIA IMACULADA; et al. Testing species hypotheses in the mangrove genus Rhizophora from the Western hemisphere and South Pacific islands. ESTUARINE COASTAL AND SHELF SCIENCE, v. 248, n. SI, JAN 5 2021. (13/26793-7, 13/08086-1, 17/12920-8, 18/02655-8, 14/22821-9)

Academic Publications

(References retrieved automatically from State of São Paulo Research Institutions)

CRUZ, Mariana Vargas. Evidences of environmental selection suggested by interdisciplinary approaches in Avicennia L. (Acanthaceae). 2019. Doctoral Thesis - Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Instituto de Biologia Campinas, SP.