title: Genetic  structure in fragmented populations of Solanum lycocarpum A. St.-Hil.  with distinct anthropogenic histories in a Cerrado region of Brazil.
abstract: Solanum  lycocarpum is a woody tree widely distributed in the Cerrado that  reaches high population densities in disturbed environments. We examined the  genetic diversity and population differentiation of six S. lycocarpum populations  with different degrees of human disturbance in order to determine if they are  negatively affected by anthropogenic activity. Three populations located in  southern and three located in southeastern regions of Goiás State, Central  Brazil, were genotyped with five microsatellite markers. The population located  in a protected area had higher number of alleles (26) than the remaining  populations (19 to 21 alleles). It indicates that extensive and continuous  areas of preserved native vegetation contribute positively to the conservation  of genetic diversity, even with S. lycocarpum that easily adapts to  disturbed environments. The three southeastern populations, although  fragmented, had preserved native vegetation and were not significantly  different from each other (θp =  0.002). All other population pairs compared were significantly divergent (θp varied from  0.03 to 0.11 between pairs, P < 0.05). We found three distinct sets of  allele frequencies. The three southeastern populations shared similar gene  pools, as well as the two disturbed southern populations, which are secondary  vegetation. The southern population located in protected area had the most  dissimilar gene pool. In conclusion, populations showing a higher degree of  human disturbance tends to show a larger population differentiation than  expected from the isolation by distance model, which in the current scenario of  the Cerrado destruction points out to a threat to the long-term conservation of  the species.
authors.affiliation: Programa de Pós-Graduação em Biologia Vegetal, Instituto de Biologia, Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Campinas, SP, Brasil. tmariamoura@gmail.com
authors.forename: T M
authors.initials: TM
authors.lastname: Moura
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Martins
authors.forename: P S
authors.initials: PS
authors.lastname: Sujii
authors.forename: A M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Sebbenn
authors.forename: L J
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Chaves
mesh_terms: D001938:Brazil; D017753:Ecosystem; D056426:Genetic Loci / Q000235:genetics; D014644:Genetic Variation; D005828:Genetics, Population; D005843:Geography; D006802:Human Activities; D006801:Humans; D018895:Microsatellite Repeats / Q000235:genetics; D032322:Solanum / Q000235:genetics*