TY - JOUR
T1 - Genetic diversity, population size, and population stability of common plant species in a Mongolian grassland
AU - Ishii, Naohiro I.
AU - Takahashi, Masaya
AU - Yoshihara, Yu
AU - Dashzeveg, Nyambayar
AU - Ayush, Tserendejid
AU - Suyama, Yoshihisa
AU - Sasaki, Takehiro
N1 - Funding Information:
We would like to thank the laboratory colleagues for helping with the analysis, especially Ayumi Matsuo, Shun Hirota, and Mitsuhiko Sato. We would like to thank Editage ( www.editage.com ) for English language editing. This work was financially supported by Mitsui & Co. The Environment Fund (No. R12-G2-253 ) to T.S., a Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists A (no. 25712036 ) and a Fund for Fostering Joint International Research A (no. 19KK0393 ) to T.S. from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan, and the Joint Research Program of Arid Land Research Center, Tottori University ( 30F2002 and 02F2002 ).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 Elsevier Ltd
PY - 2021/11
Y1 - 2021/11
N2 - Genetic diversity is fundamental for biodiversity, providing an adaptive potential to environmental fluctuations and population stability. This empirical evidence was obtained by comparing the genetic diversity among multiple populations. However, it is controversial whether levels of genetic diversity are related to population stability in inter-specific comparisons, especially among common species in a local community. Additionally, previous studies showed that effective population size predicted from genetic diversity did not necessarily correlate with census population size (Nc), such as the apparent number of individuals. Identifying whether Nc can be a surrogate of genetic diversity in a community provides useful information for ecosystem managements. We investigated relationships between genome-wide genetic indices (α and β diversity, and inbreeding coefficient), number of individuals (Nc), and stability over four years in nine common plants at a local scale in Mongolian grasslands. The genetic indices of multiple species were not significantly correlated with Nc or its stability. This pattern might be attributed to species-specific identity, such as niche depth at a site, drought tolerance, and differences in stabilization mechanisms via α or β diversity related to Nc, and short-term population stability at local scales. Genetic diversity might reflect population size across a regional scale rather than a local scale to ensure stability over long terms and resilience or resistance to environmental extremes. The present study indicated that investigating the genetic diversity-stability relationship for different spatiotemporal scales can lead to understanding the sustainable management of arid grasslands.
AB - Genetic diversity is fundamental for biodiversity, providing an adaptive potential to environmental fluctuations and population stability. This empirical evidence was obtained by comparing the genetic diversity among multiple populations. However, it is controversial whether levels of genetic diversity are related to population stability in inter-specific comparisons, especially among common species in a local community. Additionally, previous studies showed that effective population size predicted from genetic diversity did not necessarily correlate with census population size (Nc), such as the apparent number of individuals. Identifying whether Nc can be a surrogate of genetic diversity in a community provides useful information for ecosystem managements. We investigated relationships between genome-wide genetic indices (α and β diversity, and inbreeding coefficient), number of individuals (Nc), and stability over four years in nine common plants at a local scale in Mongolian grasslands. The genetic indices of multiple species were not significantly correlated with Nc or its stability. This pattern might be attributed to species-specific identity, such as niche depth at a site, drought tolerance, and differences in stabilization mechanisms via α or β diversity related to Nc, and short-term population stability at local scales. Genetic diversity might reflect population size across a regional scale rather than a local scale to ensure stability over long terms and resilience or resistance to environmental extremes. The present study indicated that investigating the genetic diversity-stability relationship for different spatiotemporal scales can lead to understanding the sustainable management of arid grasslands.
KW - Common species
KW - Genetic diversity
KW - Mongolia
KW - Population size
KW - Population stability
KW - Steppe
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U2 - 10.1016/j.jaridenv.2021.104607
DO - 10.1016/j.jaridenv.2021.104607
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85112546604
VL - 194
JO - Journal of Arid Environments
JF - Journal of Arid Environments
SN - 0140-1963
M1 - 104607
ER -