Management and Conservation of Natural Populations in Atlantic Rain Forest: The Case Study of Palm Heart (Euterpe edulis Martius)1

The spotted paca,Cuniculuspaca (Linnaeus, 1766), is a Neotropical, opportunistic, frugivorous caviomorph rodent, that inhabits primarily broadleaf forests. We aimed to provide the first estimates of density of C.paca for the Ilha Grande, an island located in the Atlantic Rain Forest biome of Brazil. Density and population size were estimated using the total number of individuals observed along each trail through the program DISTANCE 7. Our estimates of density and population size reinforces the importance of the Ilha Grande as an important reservoir of the species. Therefore, the results presented herein can be a starting point to support future action plans for the species, making predictions regarding the ecosystem and management and conservation of the spotted paca. Furthermore, the results can be used as a surrogate for other regions in which the species occurs.

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Effects of palm heart harvesting on avian frugivores in the Atlantic rain forest of Brazil

Journal of Applied Ecology ◽

10.1046/j.1365-2664.1998.00294.x ◽

1998 ◽

Vol 35 (2) ◽

pp. 286-293 ◽

Cited By ~ 77

Author(s):

Mauro Galetti ◽

Alexandre Aleixo

Keyword(s):

Rain Forest ◽

Atlantic Rain Forest ◽

Palm Heart ◽

Avian Frugivores

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Genetic structure of natural populations of Cryptocarya moschata Nees (Lauraceae) from southeastern Brazilian Atlantic rain forest

Biota Neotropica ◽

10.1590/s1676-06032004000100004 ◽

2004 ◽

Vol 4 (1) ◽

pp. 01-16 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Pedro Luís Rodrigues de Moraes ◽

Maria Teresa Vitral de Carvalho Derbyshire

Keyword(s):

Genetic Structure ◽

Rain Forest ◽

Evolutionary Dynamics ◽

Isolation By Distance ◽

Geographic Distance ◽

Natural Populations ◽

Conservation Strategies ◽

Atlantic Rain Forest ◽

Effective Population ◽

Allozyme Loci

This study was accomplished on a more comprehensive basis to evaluate previous questions that were raised from a preliminary article about the genetic structure of Cryptocarya moschata populations. Thus, through the analysis of 40 polymorphic allozyme loci, allele frequencies were estimated from 335 individuals of 11 natural populations of C. moschata from six hydrographic basins of São Paulo state and Serra da Estrela, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Estimates of Wright's F statistics were done through the analysis of variance, presenting average values of <img border=0 width=32 height=32 id="_x0000_i1026" src="../../../../../../img/revistas/bn/v4n1/img/a04car(f).jpg" align=absmiddle > or = 0.352, <img border=0 width=32 height=32 id="_x0000_i1027" src="../../../../../../img/revistas/bn/v4n1/img/a04car(0p).jpg" align=absmiddle > or = 0.285 and <img border=0 width=32 height=32 id="_x0000_i1028" src="../../../../../../img/revistas/bn/v4n1/img/a04car(f2).jpg" align=absmiddle > or = 0.097. These results indicated that individuals within populations must be panmitic, and that the diversity among populations is fairly high, being superior to what would be expected for groups of plants having a full-sib family structure. From estimates of <img border=0 width=32 height=32 id="_x0000_i1029" src="../../../../../../img/revistas/bn/v4n1/img/a04car(0p).jpg" align=absmiddle>obtained for populations taken two at a time, the model of isolation by distance was tested; data did not fit the model, showing that <img border=0 width=32 height=32 id="_x0000_i1030" src="../../../../../../img/revistas/bn/v4n1/img/a04car(0p).jpg" align=absmiddle>did not increase by the respective increasing of the geographic distance. The estimated gene flow of 0.55 migrants per generation corroborated the pronounced populational differentiation, indicating that drift effects should be more important than the selection ones. The effective population sizes found from the sampled populations showed that there was an adequate genetic representativeness of the samples for those with relatively low values of <img border=0 width=32 height=32 id="_x0000_i1031" src="../../../../../../img/revistas/bn/v4n1/img/a04car(f2).jpg" align=absmiddle>. Though, under a metapopulation context, the effective population size was 17.07 individuals, indicating that sampling performed for the species corresponded to 88.44% of the maximum effective size obtained from 11 populations with a <img border=0 width=32 height=32 id="_x0000_i1032" src="../../../../../../img/revistas/bn/v4n1/img/a04car(0p).jpg" align=absmiddle>of 0.285, equivalent to only 5.09% individuals for the total sampled. Management and conservation strategies aimed at preserving high intrapopulation genetic variation in C. moschata would imply in the maintenance of populations with great number of individuals. Moreover, for the preservation of the species as a whole, the maintenance of many such populations would be mandatorily recommended, which denotes that the conservation of large areas of Atlantic rain forest should be necessary to hold its evolutionary dynamics.

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Population Biology of Palm Heart (Euterpe edulis Martius–Arecaceae) in Managed Landscape Units in Southern Brazil

Economic Botany ◽

10.1007/s12231-021-09519-2 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Lucas de Souza Milanesi ◽

Tiago Montagna ◽

Maurício Sedrez dos Reis ◽

Nivaldo Peroni

Keyword(s):

Population Biology ◽

Southern Brazil ◽

Euterpe Edulis ◽

Palm Heart ◽

Euterpe Edulis Martius ◽

Landscape Units

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CONTRASTING LEVELS OF GENETIC DIVERSITY AMONG POPULATIONS OF THE ENDANGERED TROPICAL PALM EUTERPE EDULIS MARTIUS

CERNE ◽

10.1590/01047760201723012237 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 23 (1) ◽

pp. 31-42 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Enéas Ricardo Konzen ◽

Maisa Pimentel Martins

Keyword(s):

Genetic Diversity ◽

Genetic Variability ◽

Natural Populations ◽

Tropical Species ◽

Isozyme Markers ◽

Euterpe Edulis ◽

Dense Forest ◽

Genetic Diversity And Structure ◽

Euterpe Edulis Martius ◽

Structure Patterns

ABSTRACT Euterpe edulis is a tropical species that produces the heart of palm, an edible product of high economic importance. However, its natural populations have been severely threatened by unrestricted exploitation, along with the destruction of its natural biome, the Atlantic Rainforest in Brazil. In this work, we examined the genetic diversity status of five natural populations using isozyme markers. Despite their limitations and replacement by DNA-based markers, isozymes are codominant markers that reveal accurate estimates of genetic diversity and structure patterns, as do microsatellites. Six informative isozyme markers were used to analyze the genetic variability of populations located in different areas of the Atlantic Forest (Ombrophilous Dense Forest and Seasonal Forest), and with different degrees of perturbation. Mean genetic diversity for all populations (Ho = 0.172, for 13 loci) was considered low for a tropical species, even for the markers used. Populations from Ombrophilous Dense Forest at the very South limit of distribution of the heart of palm presented the lowest genetic variability (Ho = 0.141), which is clearly observed from the allele frequencies, and might implicate in less adaptive potential in a scenario of climate change. On the contrary, the Seasonal Forest population presented the highest diversity (Ho = 0.237). It comprises one of the largest remaining reservoirs of heart of palm and maybe of its genetic variability. The contrasting levels of genetic diversity encountered in this study rehash the constant need of monitoring and conserving the current genetic diversity of E. edulis populations, as well as exploring strategies for its breeding.

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