TITLE:
Ecological-Genetic Studies and Conservation of Endemic Quercus sideroxyla (Trel.) in Central Mexico
AUTHORS:
Cecilia Alfonso-Corrado, Ricardo Clark-Tapia, Alejandro Monsalvo-Reyes, Carlos Rosas-Osorio, Gabriel González-Adame, Francisco Naranjo-Luna, Crystian-Sadiel Venegas-Barrera, Jorge E. Campos
KEYWORDS:
Ecology, Genetic Diversity, Local Conservation, Niche, Oaks
JOURNAL NAME:
Natural Resources,
Vol.5 No.9,
July
31,
2014
ABSTRACT: This study examines the
distribution, ecology and genetic diversity of Quercus sideroxyla Humb. Bonpl, with an emphasis on its
conservation on the Natural Protected Area of Sierra Fría in North Central
Mexico. Twenty-nine locations were selected, and in each location, one plot of
1500 m2 was established. At every location, we obtained an abundance
of Q. sideroxyla and a basal area for
each individual tree, including geographical and climatological data. We used
the Outlying Mean Index (OMI) to examine whether environmental conditions had a
distributional effect on Q. sideroxyla populations and to obtain the static size population structure of the species.
For the genetic analysis, we collected 18 adult individuals from each
population, four polymorphic loci were used to estimate genetic diversity. Q. sideroxyla abundance was associated
with narrow environmental conditions, especially when considering the
topographical and meteorological environmental variables. The allelic richness
value was 84 alleles (21 privatealleles), and the expected mean heterozygosity
was 0.855 ± 0.009. The high vulnerability of the species to changes in the land
use at the local scale and to global climatic changes increases the species’
susceptibility to local disappearance.