A test of the riverine barrier hypothesis for Amazonian plants

• Grant number: 15/07141-4
• Support type: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Post-doctor
• Effective date (Start): June 01, 2015
• Effective date (End): September 30, 2015
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Genetics
• Principal Investigator: Lúcia Garcez Lohmann
• Grantee: Alison Gonçalves Nazareno
• Supervisor abroad: Christopher William Dick
• Home Institution: Instituto de Biociências (IB). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Local de pesquisa : University of Michigan, United States
• Associated to the scholarship: 13/12633-8 - Comparative phylogeography of plants in the Central Amazonia, BP.PD

Abstract

The Amazon is one of the most diverse biomes on the planet. Despite its importance, very little is still known about the ecological and evolutionary processes involved in the diversification, maintenance and distribution of species in this region. The tribe Bignonieae (Bignoniaceae) is the most abundant and diverse clade of lianas in the Brazilian Amazon, representing an excellent model within which to test specific hypothesis about species diversification in the region. In this study we will use Tanaecium tetragonolobum (Jacq.) L.G. Lohmann (Bignonieae, Bignoniaceae), as a model to test "Wallace's Riverine Barrier Hypothesis," which postulates that rivers represent key biogeographic barriers to gene flow. For that, we will sample T. tetragonolobum in both sides of Rivers Negro and Branco and will use RADseq (Restriction-site Associated DNA sequencing) to identify and type a large number of polymorphic SNPs (single-nucleotide polymorphisms) across the genomes of ca. 144 individuals from sixteen populations. Considering that T. tetragonolobum is widely distributed in the Amazon basin with populations on either margins of Rivers Negro and Branco, results from the present study will allow us to determine the pattern of genetic differentiation between and among river margins as well as whether the pattern of genetic differentiation among populations of T. tetragonolobum is enhanced by their geographic distances. This project is a collaborative initiative between the Laboratório de Sistemática Vegetal (Departament of Botany) of the University of São Paulo, and Dick's Lab (Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology) at the University of Michigan. While Dr. Lohmann's lab at the University of São Paulo will provide all the assistance and funds for the field component of this project, Dr. Dick's lab will provide state of the art equipment to generate data and perform the genetic analyses needed to successfully complete the project. Data analyses will be conducted at both Michigan and São Paulo and the paper will be written jointly between members of both Institutions. (AU)

Scientific publications

(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)

NAZARENO, ALISON G.; DICK, CHRISTOPHER W.; LOHMANN, LUCIA G. Tangled banks: A landscape genomic evaluation of Wallace's Riverine barrier hypothesis for three Amazon plant species. Molecular Ecology, v. 28, n. 5, p. 980-997, MAR 2019. Web of Science Citations: 0.

NAZARENO, ALISON G.; BEMMELS, JORDAN B.; DICK, CHRISTOPHER W.; LOHMANN, LUCIA G. Minimum sample sizes for population genomics: an empirical study from an Amazonian plant species. MOLECULAR ECOLOGY RESOURCES, v. 17, n. 6, p. 1136-1147, NOV 2017. Web of Science Citations: 38.

NAZARENO, ALISON G.; DICK, CHRISTOPHER W.; LOHMANN, LUCIA G. Wide but not impermeable: Testing the riverine barrier hypothesis for an Amazonian plant species. Molecular Ecology, v. 26, n. 14, p. 3636-3648, JUL 2017. Web of Science Citations: 10.