Genetic structure among the endangered Brazilian Euterpe Edulis Mart
(Arecaceae) morphotypes
Abstract
Euterpe edulis (Arecaceae) Mart has high ecological and economic
importance providing food resources for more than 58 species of birds
and 20 species of mammals, including humans. E. edulis is the second
most explored non-timber product from Brazilian Atlantic Forest. Due to
overexploitation and destruction of habitats, E. edulis is threatened by
extinction. E. edulis populations have large morphological variations,
with individuals having green, red or yellow leaf sheath. However, no
study has related phenotypic distinctions between populations and their
levels of genetic structure. Thus, this study aimed to evaluate the
diversity and genetic structure of different E. edulis morphotypes. We
sampled 250 adult individuals in eight populations with the different
morphotypes. Using 14 microsatellite markers, we access genetic
diversity through population genetic parameters calculated in the
GenAlex program and the diveRsity package in R. We used the Wilcoxon
test to verify population bottlenecks and the genetic distance of Nei
and Bayesian analysis for genetic clusters. The eight populations showed
low allele richness, low heterogeneity observed and high inbreeding
values (f). In addition, six of the eight populations experienced
genetic bottlenecks, which would partly explain the low genetic
diversity in populations. Cluster analysis identified two clusters
(K=2), with green morphotype genetically distinguishing from yellow and
red morphotypes. Thus, we show, for the first time, a strong genetic
structure among E. edulis morphotypes even for geographically close
populations.