Forest Ecology and Management 481 (2021) 118716
Available online 28 October 2020
0378-1127/© 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Spatiotemporal variation in mating system and genetic diversity of
Araucaria angustifolia: Implications for conservation and seed collection
Newton Cl´ ovis Freitas da Costa
a, b, *
, Lilian Iara Bet Stedille
b
, Miguel Busarello Lauterjung
a
,
Tiago Montagna
a
, Rafael Candido-Ribeiro
a, c
, Alison Paulo Bernardi
a
, Adelar Mantovani
b
,
Mauricio Sedrez dos Reis
a
, Rubens Onofre Nodari
a
a
Núcleo de Pesquisas em Florestas Tropicais (NPFT), Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Rodovia Admar Gonzaga 1346, Florian´ opolis, Brazil
b
Uso e Conservaç˜ ao dos Recursos Florestais (UCRF), Universidade do Estado de Santa Catarina, Avenida Luís de Cam˜ oes 2090, Lages, Brazil
c
Department of Forest and Conservation Sciences, University of British Columbia, 2424 Main Mall, Vancouver, BC, Canada
A R T I C L E INFO
Keywords:
Araucaria forests
Spatial genetic structure
Grasslands
Small patches
Isolated trees
ABSTRACT
Understanding spatiotemporal variations in genetic diversity and mating system can allow policymakers to better
support actions towards conservation and management of plant populations. However, multiyear studies are still
scarce for many long-lived tree species. Therefore, we herein analyze how genetic diversity, genetic structure and
mating system of Araucaria angustifolia vary within and among populations, generations (adults and seed co-
horts) and years. We evaluated two A. angustifolia populations occurring in forest-grassland landscapes, one of
them for three years. Differences in Ho and He were observed among generations and populations, with sig-
nifcant fxation indexes for all adult and seed cohorts evaluated. Pairwise F
ST
values showed that genetic di-
vergences were greater between populations, followed by those among years, and, fnally, less relevant values
among generations. No signifcant spatial genetic structure was found in either population. Paternity correlation,
number of pollen donors, coancestry and proportion of half and full-sibs may vary over the years in
A. angustifolia. In practical terms, the present study demonstrates how recommendations for seed collection may
change according to the evaluated year, such as the number of seed trees, which ranged from 42 to 48.
Furthermore, multiyear analyses allow a more comprehensive understanding of the genetic aspects for a long-
lived tree species. Finally, we present and discuss these aspects and their variations in space, time and be-
tween reproductive events, including recommendations for seed collection.
1. Introduction
Conservation and management practices of natural populations of
trees have long benefted from studies involving different aspects of
genetic diversity (Bittencourt and Sebbenn, 2007; Aguilar et al., 2008;
Sebbenn et al., 2011; Lanes et al., 2016; Montagna et al., 2018b; Ramos
et al., 2018). In these studies, questions related to the magnitude of
genetic diversity and the variation within and between populations
generally have direct implications for conservation practices (Lowe
et al., 2018; Lauterjung et al., 2019). In a fne-scale analysis, spatial
genetic structure (Chung et al., 2003; Vekemans and Hardy, 2004;
Hardy et al., 2006) can be used to inform minimum distances of seed
collection for ex situ conservation or genetically-sound restoration
programs (Buzatti et al., 2012; Montagna et al., 2018a, 2019). Mating
system analysis is also a way of trying to understand how genetic ex-
change among plants infuences the organization of genetic diversity in
plant populations. By assessing genotypes of multiple seed trees and
their progeny, one can estimate the minimum required number of seeds
to collect and from how many mother-trees in order to achieve an
acceptable effective population size (Ne) (Ritland and Jain, 1981; Rit-
land, 1985; Eckert et al., 2010). Genetic studies on key species of forest
ecosystems helped to unravel effects of anthropogenic habitat modif-
cations and their consequences, such as reduction in effective popula-
tion sizes, increase of inbreeding effects, and potential negative
implications for species genetic parameters (Ouborg et al., 2006;
Vranckx et al., 2014).
* Corresponding author at: Uso e Conservaç˜ ao dos Recursos Florestais (UCRF), Universidade do Estado de Santa Catarina, Avenida Luís de Cam˜ oes 2090, Lages,
Brazil.
E-mail addresses: newton_eu16@hotmail.com (N.C.F. Costa), rafael.ribeiro@ubc.ca (R. Candido-Ribeiro), bernardialison@gmail.com (A.P. Bernardi), msedrez@
gmail.com (M.S. Reis).
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Forest Ecology and Management
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/foreco
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2020.118716
Received 8 February 2020; Received in revised form 9 July 2020; Accepted 15 October 2020