Title
Genetic threats to the Forest Giants of the Amazon: Habitat degradation effects on the socio-economically important Brazil nut tree (Bertholletia excelsa)
Date Issued
01 March 2021
Access level
open access
Resource Type
journal article
Author(s)
Chiriboga-Arroyo F.
Jansen M.
Ismail S.A.
Thomas E.
Corvera Gomringer R.
Kettle C.J.
Publisher(s)
Blackwell Publishing Ltd
Abstract
The Brazil nut is a highly valuable non-timber forest product from a wild, hyperdominant, emergent tree species that is increasingly vulnerable and exposed to habitat degradation. We provide evidence for how Brazil nut genetic resources are negatively affected by forest degradation and discuss the consequences of this for reproductive success. To avoid negative effects of genetic erosion and inbreeding, we discuss the need to cease large-scale forest conversion and to promote landscape connectivity. This could support gene flow, maintain genetic diversity across individuals reproducing in clustered patterns and contribute to securing the long-termed reproductive viability and resilience of this high socio-economically and ecologically valuable species. Summary: Ecosystem degradation in the Amazon drives this biodiverse rainforest toward an ecological tipping point. Sustainable management and restoration of degraded rainforest therein are central to counteract this crisis. One hyperdominant, keystone species of high ecological and socio-economic value, the Brazil nut tree, offers additional benefits as a major carbon sink and a nutritional source of the most prominent globally traded non-timber forest product. Despite Brazil nut trees being protected by conservation regulation, forest degradation threatens sufficient gene-flow among Brazil nut tree populations. This has impacts on the reproductive success, genetic diversity, and consequently on the resilience of this species to environmental change. We used 13 microsatellite loci to explore the consequences of forest degradation on the reduction in genetic diversity of Brazil nut populations. We examined the clustering of genetically related individuals as fine-scale genetic structure (FSGS) and the variation in genetic diversity and inbreeding across adult trees and seedlings along a categorized forest-degradation gradient ranging from conserved to degraded areas. In addition, we applied direct and indirect approaches to estimate contemporary pollen-mediated gene flow. We found significant levels of FSGS, comparable to other similar tropical tree species. Brazil nut seedlings had consistently lower genetic diversity and higher inbreeding than adults, significantly associated with the degree of forest degradation of their origin. We observed limited pollen dispersal, differential patterns in pollen heterogeneity, and disproportionate paternal-assignment rates from few individuals shaping the effective population size in our dataset. We discuss how this evidence for reproduction vulnerability may affect the genetic resources and undermine the resilience of this ecological and socio-economic system in Peru.
Start page
194
End page
210
Volume
3
Issue
2
Language
English
OCDE Knowledge area
Agricultura
Subjects
Scopus EID
2-s2.0-85106180149
Source
Plants People Planet
ISSN of the container
25722611
Source funding
Association pour la Recherche sur le Cancer
Sponsor(s)
This work was funded by the ETH Zurich with the grant number ETH‐1516‐1 and was conducted in intrinsic collaboration with parallel common research components with the SUSTAIN project and their members, to all of which we thank, particularly, Manuel Guariguata for his guidance into the local context and Francisco Ehrenberg for his aid establishing the nurseries. The Coop Research Program of the World Food System Center at the ETH Zurich financially supported MJ and financed the establishment of part of the research sites. Collection and processing of adult genetic material was performed to the greater extent as field assistance and coordination by Nils Atapaucar Sánchez. For the samples taken inside and around the Tambopata Nature Reserve, we acknowledge AIDER (Asociación para la Investigación y el Desarrollo Integral) which together with SERNANP (Peruvian National Service of Protected Natural Areas) granted us the corresponding permits and supplied support for field work and sampling collection in these areas. Additionally in this context, we acknowledge the forest rangers at Jorge Chávez control point for their support, particularly, Abner Guevara. Study sites were situated at and in collaboration with ARC Amazon, Novalis, and RONAP, for which we acknowledge David Johnston, Juan Zuniga, and Miguel Zamalloa, respectively, as the main coordinators. We had very valuable help from contributors from the local University UNAMAD, particularly from students providing field assistance for their study programs. In this sense, we thank Daniel Navarro and Luis Ramos for the assistance with seed collection and Flor Vargas for her performance and coordination in nurseries. We thank also the personnel from the Institute of Peruvian Amazon Research (spa IIAP) for feedback and practical help with nursery germination and sample collection. For the genetic analysis work, we acknowledge Alex Widmer, Martin Fischer, and Simon Crameri at the Plant Ecological Genetics group ETH Zurich for their very helpful constructive insights, theoretical advices, and feedback, as well as Kirsti Määttänen, Nadine Keller, Angela Jenny for their laboratory‐work assistance, and Christopher Philipson's statistical guidance at the Ecosystem Management Group ETH Zurich. We acknowledge also the Genetic Diversity Centre GDC ETH Zurich where all the molecular laboratory work was performed.
Sources of information:
Directorio de Producción Científica
Scopus