Characterization of natural populations of Rhizophora spp. (Rhizophoraceae) from mangroves forests along the Brazilian coast and analysis of a hybridization zone using microsatellite markers

Author(s)

Patrícia Mara Francisco

• Document type: Doctoral Thesis
• Press: Campinas, SP.
• Institution: Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Instituto de Biologia
• Defense date: 2015-02-23

Examining board members

Anete Pereira de Souza; Maria Imaculada Zucchi; Elizabeth Ann Veasey; Evandro Vagner Tambarussi; Marília Cunha Lignon

• Advisor: Anete Pereira de Souza

Abstract

Mangrove are ecosystems with an unusual variety of animals and plants adapted to conditions of high salinity and frequent floods and muddy anaerobic soil. Several abiotic factors influence the patterns of mangrove species diversity, such as oceanography, climate, topographic and soil conditions. The number of mangrove plant species is much reduced compared with other tropical ecosystems. Brazil has the second largest mangrove area in the world and has three genera of mangrove angiosperms. One genera is Rhizophora, composed of Rhizophora mangle, Rhizophora racemosa and a possible hybrid, Rhizophora harrisonii. The aim of this thesis was to isolate and characterize microsatellite loci for these species and estimate population parameters such as gene flow, population structure, genetic diversity and effective population size, and study other aspects of Rhizophora biology, as a possible hybrid zone in the north region of the Brazilian coast, crossing rate and the reproductive system. For this purpose, 318 individuals of R. mangle of 11 locations along the Brazilian coast, 33 individuals of R. racemosa and 37 individuals of R. harrisonii from two locations were collected. To identify and characterize the microsatellite loci, enriched microsatellite libraries for the three species were developed. Using the developed markers, and some others already published, we observed a significant difference between the populations in the pattern of genetic variation. Alleles richness, expected and observed heterozygosity were higher in the north. The results suggest that the species of R. mangle is not only composed of a single panmitic population due to differentiation found among the population from locales north and south of the Brazilian Coast. The reproductive system was evaluated studing a population of R. mangle from the state of Pará and we find values that would indicate a mixed mating system. Regarding the ongoing hybridization, we found no evidence of introgressive hybridization among the species leading to a hybrid species. We concluded that with this results it was possible to contribute to further genetic knowledge of Rhizophora spp. from the Brazilian coast (AU)