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The genetic legacy of fragmentation and overexploitation in the threatened medicinal African pepper-bark tree, Warburgia salutaris

The pepper-bark tree (Warburgia salutaris) is one of the most highly valued medicinal plant species worldwide. Native to southern Africa, this species has been extensively harvested for the bark, which is widely used in traditional health practices. Illegal harvesting coupled with habitat degradatio...

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Autores principales: Senkoro, Annae M., Talhinhas, Pedro, Simões, Fernanda, Batista-Santos, Paula, Shackleton, Charlie M., Voeks, Robert A., Marques, Isabel, Ribeiro-Barros, Ana I.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Nature Publishing Group UK 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7661512/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33184322
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-76654-6
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author Senkoro, Annae M.
Talhinhas, Pedro
Simões, Fernanda
Batista-Santos, Paula
Shackleton, Charlie M.
Voeks, Robert A.
Marques, Isabel
Ribeiro-Barros, Ana I.
author_facet Senkoro, Annae M.
Talhinhas, Pedro
Simões, Fernanda
Batista-Santos, Paula
Shackleton, Charlie M.
Voeks, Robert A.
Marques, Isabel
Ribeiro-Barros, Ana I.
author_sort Senkoro, Annae M.
collection PubMed
description The pepper-bark tree (Warburgia salutaris) is one of the most highly valued medicinal plant species worldwide. Native to southern Africa, this species has been extensively harvested for the bark, which is widely used in traditional health practices. Illegal harvesting coupled with habitat degradation has contributed to fragmentation of populations and a severe decline in its distribution. Even though the species is included in the IUCN Red List as Endangered, genetic data that would help conservation efforts and future re-introductions are absent. We therefore developed new molecular markers to understand patterns of genetic diversity, structure, and gene flow of W. salutaris in one of its most important areas of occurrence (Mozambique). In this study, we have shown that, despite fragmentation and overexploitation, this species maintains a relatively high level of genetic diversity supporting the existence of random mating. Two genetic groups were found corresponding to the northern and southern locations. Our study suggests that, if local extinctions occurred in Mozambique, the pepper-bark tree persisted in sufficient numbers to retain a large proportion of genetic diversity. Management plans should concentrate on maintaining this high level of genetic variability through both in and ex-situ conservation actions.
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spelling pubmed-76615122020-11-13 The genetic legacy of fragmentation and overexploitation in the threatened medicinal African pepper-bark tree, Warburgia salutaris Senkoro, Annae M. Talhinhas, Pedro Simões, Fernanda Batista-Santos, Paula Shackleton, Charlie M. Voeks, Robert A. Marques, Isabel Ribeiro-Barros, Ana I. Sci Rep Article The pepper-bark tree (Warburgia salutaris) is one of the most highly valued medicinal plant species worldwide. Native to southern Africa, this species has been extensively harvested for the bark, which is widely used in traditional health practices. Illegal harvesting coupled with habitat degradation has contributed to fragmentation of populations and a severe decline in its distribution. Even though the species is included in the IUCN Red List as Endangered, genetic data that would help conservation efforts and future re-introductions are absent. We therefore developed new molecular markers to understand patterns of genetic diversity, structure, and gene flow of W. salutaris in one of its most important areas of occurrence (Mozambique). In this study, we have shown that, despite fragmentation and overexploitation, this species maintains a relatively high level of genetic diversity supporting the existence of random mating. Two genetic groups were found corresponding to the northern and southern locations. Our study suggests that, if local extinctions occurred in Mozambique, the pepper-bark tree persisted in sufficient numbers to retain a large proportion of genetic diversity. Management plans should concentrate on maintaining this high level of genetic variability through both in and ex-situ conservation actions. Nature Publishing Group UK 2020-11-12 /pmc/articles/PMC7661512/ /pubmed/33184322 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-76654-6 Text en © The Author(s) 2020 Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
spellingShingle Article
Senkoro, Annae M.
Talhinhas, Pedro
Simões, Fernanda
Batista-Santos, Paula
Shackleton, Charlie M.
Voeks, Robert A.
Marques, Isabel
Ribeiro-Barros, Ana I.
The genetic legacy of fragmentation and overexploitation in the threatened medicinal African pepper-bark tree, Warburgia salutaris
title The genetic legacy of fragmentation and overexploitation in the threatened medicinal African pepper-bark tree, Warburgia salutaris
title_full The genetic legacy of fragmentation and overexploitation in the threatened medicinal African pepper-bark tree, Warburgia salutaris
title_fullStr The genetic legacy of fragmentation and overexploitation in the threatened medicinal African pepper-bark tree, Warburgia salutaris
title_full_unstemmed The genetic legacy of fragmentation and overexploitation in the threatened medicinal African pepper-bark tree, Warburgia salutaris
title_short The genetic legacy of fragmentation and overexploitation in the threatened medicinal African pepper-bark tree, Warburgia salutaris
title_sort genetic legacy of fragmentation and overexploitation in the threatened medicinal african pepper-bark tree, warburgia salutaris
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7661512/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33184322
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-76654-6
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