Plant Ecology and Evolution 153(3): 348-360, doi: 10.5091/plecevo.2020.1690
Conservation of genetic diversity in Mediterranean endemic species: Arenaria balearica (Caryophyllaceae)
expand article infoJavier Bobo-Pinilla‡, Noemí López-González‡, Julio Peñas§
‡ Departamento de Botánica, Universidad de Salamanca, E-37007 Salamanca, Spain§ Unidad de Conservación Vegetal, Departamento de Botánica, Universidad de Granada, E-18071 Granada, Spain

Corresponding author: Javier Bobo-Pinilla ( javicastronuevo@usal.es )

© Javier Bobo-Pinilla, Noemí López-González, Julio Peñas.
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Citation: Bobo-Pinilla J, López-González N, Peñas J (2020) Conservation of genetic diversity in Mediterranean endemic species: Arenaria balearica (Caryophyllaceae). Plant Ecology and Evolution 153(3): 348-360. https://doi.org/10.5091/plecevo.2020.1690
Open Access
Abstract

Background – Biodiversity loss is a problem that needs to be urgently addressed, particularly with the uncertainties of climate change. Current conservation policies principally focus on endangered species but they often give little consideration to the evolutionary processes, genetic diversity, or the rarity of non-endangered species. Endemic species occurring in rocky habitats that are undergoing exceptional habitat loss appear to be one of the most important candidates for conservation. The aim is to establish in situ and ex situ conservation recommendations for the Mediterranean endemic species Arenaria balearica.

Material and methods – Arenaria balearica is a species endemic to the Mediterranean with a disjunct distribution range throughout Majorca, Corsica, Sardinia, and other small Tyrrhenian islands. A combination of molecular techniques (AFLPs and plastid DNA) was employed to determine genetic diversity and rarity across populations and to calculate the Relevant Genetic Units for Conservation (RGUCs). Moreover, Species Distribution Models (SDMs) were developed to assess the potential current distribution and the expected situation under future climatic scenarios.

Key results – To preserve the genetic diversity and rarity of the species, in situ conservation is proposed for six populations as RGUCs. Moreover, as the RGUCs can only account for a part of the phylogeographic signal, ex situ conservation is also suggested for some additional populations. According to the results, the habitat suitability in the 2050 scenario is limited and suitable areas for A. balearica could have disappeared by 2070. Therefore, the persistence of the species could be in danger in a short period of time and conservation planning becomes necessary.

Keywords
Arenaria balearica, conservation, Mediterranean endemism, RGUCs, species distribution models

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