Assessing Genetic Diversity after Mangrove Restoration in Brazil: Why Is It So Important?

Granado, Renan; Neta, Luiza C. Pinto; Nunes-Freitas, André Felippe; Voloch, Carolina M.; Lira, Catarina Fonseca

doi:10.3390/d10020027

Cited by 15 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 51 publications

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“…In the long run, this will lead to an impaired secondary succession [80]. In addition, restoration is commonly done by the planting of locally (or nearby) collected propagules, which threatens genetic diversity [81]. Despite these shortcomings, there is nevertheless one tremendous benefit of reforestation campaigns if local people are involved: the chance to raise awareness about the value of mangroves.…”

Section: Mangrove Regeneration and Restoration-a More Global Perspectivementioning

confidence: 99%

To Plant or Not to Plant, That Is the Question: Reforestation vs. Natural Regeneration of Hurricane-Disturbed Mangrove Forests in Guanaja (Honduras)

Fickert

2020

Forests

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Background and Objectives: Mangrove forests offer many essential ecosystem services, including the protection of (sub)tropical coastlines, their inhabitants, and the infrastructure from severe storms and tsunamis. However, mangroves themselves suffer severely from such phenomena. After such events, reforestation efforts are widely undertaken to facilitate the recovery of the mangroves. Many of these laborious activities, however, fail for a number of reasons. Material and Methods: In October 1998, the Honduran Island of Guanaja was severely hit by Hurricane Mitch, and, after the storm, almost all of the mangrove forests (97%) were rated as dead. Seven years after Mitch, a longterm survey on the regeneration of the mangroves started. Field samplings in six variably disturbed mangrove zones was conducted in 2005, 2009, and 2016. Along permanent line-transects, all living plant species were recorded for statistical analyses and for quantifying progress. In this paper, the focus is on the three most severely hit areas. In two of them, planting efforts were carried out while the third one was left to regenerate naturally. This setting allowed a direct comparison between natural and human-assisted regeneration processes under otherwise similar conditions and equally severe previous disturbance. Results: Reforestation measures were characterized by high mortality rates of Rhizophora mangle L. propagules planted predominantly. Some, however, surely survived and might have contributed to regeneration after the disturbance. In 2016, roughly two decades after Hurricane Mitch, low-growing Rhizophora mangle forests, with high ground cover, were found. Surprisingly, the area without any planting also witnessed similar mangrove rejuvenation in the same period. Conclusion: Findings on the recovering mangroves in Guanaja confirm the lessons learned from other mangrove rehabilitation measures: planting mostly fails and commonly does not accelerate the revegetation of disturbed forests. In naturally regenerating forests, recolonization may occur after a certain time-lag only if few diaspore sources survived in the surrounding; as soon as established mangrove plants bear propagules, a quick return to viable forests takes place, proving the high resilience of these coastal ecosystems.

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Section: Mangrove Regeneration and Restoration-a More Global Perspectivementioning

confidence: 99%

To Plant or Not to Plant, That Is the Question: Reforestation vs. Natural Regeneration of Hurricane-Disturbed Mangrove Forests in Guanaja (Honduras)

Fickert

2020

Forests

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“…During restoration there is the potential for the loss or reduction of fitness in the restored population, driven by founder effects, genetic swamping and inbreeding or outbreeding depression 32 . Greater attention needs to be given to genetic diversity when restoring systems 57 , especially when projects are dominated by a single species, such as coral gardening of A. cervicornis, the genetic diversity represents the primary www.nature.com/scientificreports/ biodiversity of the habitat. Genetic composition of out-planted colonies is one of many important criteria that should be considered within a best practices approach to restoration 58 .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Genetic structure of a remnant Acropora cervicornis population

Canty

Fox

Rowntree

et al. 2021

Sci Rep

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Amongst the global decline of coral reefs, hope spots such as Cordelia Bank in Honduras, have been identified. This site contains dense, remnant thickets of the endangered species Acropora cervicornis, which local managers and conservation organizations view as a potential source population for coral restoration projects. The aim of this study was to determine the genetic diversity of colonies across three banks within the protected area. We identified low genetic diversity (FST = 0.02) across the three banks, and genetic similarity of colonies ranged from 91.3 to 95.8% between the banks. Clonality rates were approximately 30% across the three banks, however, each genotype identified was unique to each bank. Despite the low genetic diversity, subtle genetic differences within and among banks were demonstrated, and these dense thickets were shown not to be comprised of a single or a few genotypes. The presence of multiple genotypes suggests A. cervicornis colonies from these banks could be used to maintain and enhance genetic diversity in restoration projects. Management of hope spots, such as Cordelia Bank, and the incorporation of genetic information into restoration projects to ensure genetic diversity within out-planted populations, will be critical in the ongoing challenge of conserving and preserving coral reefs.

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“…This framework is much more cost effective than protocols used in previous research and should enable the inclusion of more samples and collection sites in future research. These multiplex panels should also facilitate further genetic studies to address multiple pressing conservation questions, such as generating baseline genetic data from areas that have not been studied [i.e., much of Central America, Pacific South America, Caribbean islands, and West Africa (although considerable work has been done in R. racemosa; Ngeve et al 2016)], better defining management units to prioritize conservation measures (Wee et al 2019), and monitoring genetic effects of restoration projects (Granado et al 2018).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Multiplex microsatellite PCR panels for the neotropical red mangrove, Rhizophora mangle: combining efforts towards a cost-effective and modifiable tool to better inform conservation and management

Kennedy

Craig

Jara-Cavieres

et al. 2020

Conservation Genet Resour

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Better-informed mangrove conservation and management practices are needed as the ecosystem services provided by these intertidal forests continue to be threatened by increasing anthropogenic pressures and climate change. Multiple layers of knowledge are required to achieve this goal, including insights into population genetics of mangrove species. Understanding the importance of population-genetic insights to conservation, multiple research groups have developed microsatellite loci for the widespread, neotropical red mangrove, Rhizophora mangle. However, although a wealth of genetic markers exist, empirical research is limited in the number of these loci employed. Here, we designed two multiplex PCR panels that combine seven novel loci developed for this work and eight previously-developed loci from three research groups to generate 15-locus genotypes, more than twice the average number of loci used in previous research, in only two PCR. We demonstrated utility in R. mangle from four sites across ~ 2500 km near this species' northern latitudinal limits, and that these multiplex panels were better able to delineate populations than data subsets with numbers of loci comparable to previous research. We focus our discussion on how this tool is a more-informative, efficient (both in terms of time and resources), and easily-modifiable alternative to address many pressing conservation and management issues, such as the generation of baseline genetic data for areas not yet studied, better defining management units, and monitoring genetic effects of restoration projects. We also provide a quick protocol that outlines each step in this procedure to facilitate the use of this tool by others.

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Assessing Genetic Diversity after Mangrove Restoration in Brazil: Why Is It So Important?

Cited by 15 publications

References 51 publications

To Plant or Not to Plant, That Is the Question: Reforestation vs. Natural Regeneration of Hurricane-Disturbed Mangrove Forests in Guanaja (Honduras)

To Plant or Not to Plant, That Is the Question: Reforestation vs. Natural Regeneration of Hurricane-Disturbed Mangrove Forests in Guanaja (Honduras)

Genetic structure of a remnant Acropora cervicornis population

Multiplex microsatellite PCR panels for the neotropical red mangrove, Rhizophora mangle: combining efforts towards a cost-effective and modifiable tool to better inform conservation and management

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