5th International Symposium-Workshop on Frugivores and Seed Dispersal (1985-2010)

FSD 2010 - Grivet_Garcia

FSD2010

IYB2010

www.cbd.int/2010

Delphine Grivet

Unit of Forest Genetics
Department of Forest Systems and Resources
Center of Forest Research (CIFOR-INIA)
28040 Madrid, Spain

dgrivet(a)inia.es
delphine.grivet(a)gmail.com

website

Cristina Garcia (speaker)

Plant Biology Department
Miller Plant Sciences
The University of Georgia
30602. Athens, GA. USA

cgarcia(a)plantbio.uga.edu
garciacristin(a)gmail.com

website

 

Photos : Valley Oak Savanna (top) and
Landscape heterogeneity (bottom). © Reserved).

Activities

Delphine Grivet : My research is directed toward understanding evolutionary dynamics of plant populations and how interactions between gene flow and natural selection shape population genetic structure.

  1. Seed-mediated gene flow at the local scale. From a contemporary point of view my research is oriented on seed-mediated gene flow at a landscape scale, in order to assess the importance of seed dispersal on genetic diversity of plant populations. I am interested in i) studying seed-dispersal contemporary gene flow using direct and indirect methods; ii) quantifying the relative contribution of pollen and seed dispersal to established seedling populations.
  2. Phylogeography of forest trees at the species distribution scale. From an historical point of view, I am interested in how the past events molded the genetic structure observed today in plant populations at a continental scale. My research focuses on i) studying historical gene flow through pollen and seeds in forest species; ii) integrating the evolutionary processes in conservation planning and design of reserve networks.
  3. Population genomics of conifers. To understand the molecular bases of adaption of forest trees my research is currently focusing on i) assessing the evolutionary and demographic history of the populations; ii) identifying some genes underlying relevant ecological traits; iii) performing association studies between markers under selection and traits or environmental variables to confirm their adaptive significance; iv) integrating the results in a conservation framework.

Cristina Garcia : My research is focused on elucidating the influence of plant-animal mutualistic interactions in plant recruitment dynamics. Specifically, I am interested in studying the effect of contemporary pollen and seed dispersal patterns assisted by animals in driving gene flow patterns in fragmented plant populations at landscape level. My Challenging questions regarding dispersal in plant populations are:

  1. dissecting dispersal patterns;
  2. identifying maternal seed progenies in the seed rain ; and
  3. integrating pollen and seed dispersal patterns.

Abstract

Propagule and frugivore movements inferred with molecular markers: analytical approaches and evolutionary consequences

By mobilizing a large amount of propagules and the genes they harbour, frugivorous vertebrates have pervasive spatial, demographic and genetic consequences for plant populations. Yet integrative approaches examining how frugivorous’ movement patterns determine the demographic and genetic features of plant populations are scarce. Here we first review molecular approaches and analytical methods to the study of propagules and gene flow with neutral markers and then illustrate two specific cases of animal-mediated seed dispersal. On one hand, we examine individual acorn dispersal events in terms of distance and direction in an open valley oak (Quercus lobata) and inferred dispersers’ movement patterns at the landscape level. On the other hand, we quantify the maternal genetic correlations set in a frugivore-generated seed rain in a heterogeneous population of St Lucie cherry (Prunus mahaleb). We show highly non-random dispersal patterns by frugivorous vertebrates that result in a strong aggregation of maternal progenies both at the population and the landscape level. Data available on pollen flow complement our observations to discuss the potential evolutionary consequences of plant-frugivore interactions in determining recruitment and genetic patterns of plant populations in heterogeneous landscapes.

Related references

García C, Arroyo JM, Jordano P, Godoy JA. 2009. Maternal genetic correlations in the seed rain: effects of frugivore activity in heterogenous landscapes. Journal of Ecology 97: 1424-1435.

Grivet D, Smouse PE, Sork VL. 2005. A novel approach to an old problem: tracking dispersed seeds. Molecular Ecology 14 :3585-3595.

Grivet D, Robledo-Arnuncio JJ, Smouse PE, Sork VL. 2009. Relative contribution of contemporary pollen and seed dispersal to the effective parental size of seedling population of California valley oak (Quercus lobata Née). Molecular Ecology 18, 3967-3979.

(Prunus mahaleb fruit (above) and tree (below). © Reserved)