Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Factors affecting the genetic diversity of a perennial herb Viola grypoceras A. Gray var. grypoceras in urban fragmented forests

  • Research Article
  • Published:
Landscape Ecology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Context

Habitat fragmentation is likely to have deleterious genetic consequences for plant populations. Although the genetic effects of fragmentation in plants have been investigated in various landscapes, such studies are scarce in urban landscapes where forests tend to be fragmented and have a complex internal structure.

Objectives

This study aimed to determine the factors, including patch and sub-patch level spatial factors, affecting the genetic diversity of a herbaceous species in urban fragmented forests.

Methods

We collected 30–39 leaf samples of Viola grypoceras A. Gray var. grypoceras, a perennial herbaceous species with short-distance seed dispersal, from 12 fragmented and 12 suburban forests each at Kyoto City, Japan, and analyzed the genetic diversity of this species by developing six simple sequence repeat markers. Field survey was conducted to collect demographic and spatial data.

Results

There was no significant difference in allelic richness between the urban fragmented and suburban forests. However, statistical analysis revealed that the area of vegetation, distribution pattern of populations in a forest, and average distance between nearest populations affected the genetic diversity of this species in urban fragmented forests.

Conclusion

Although V. grypoceras has traits that allow it to tolerate fragmentation, such as self-pollination and seed bank-formation ability, pure loss of habitat and reduced fragment size might have deleterious effects on this species, and these effects might become more apparent if fragmentation continues to proceed in the future.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Akaike H (1973) Information theory and an extension of the maximum likelihood principle: In Petrov BN, Caski F (eds) Proceedings of the 2nd international symposium information theory, Akadimiai Kiado, Budapest, pp 267–281

  • Alberti M (2005) The effects of urban patterns on ecosystem function. Int Region Sci Rev 28:168–192

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Andren H (1994) Effects of habitat fragmentation on birds and mammals in landscapes with different proportions of suitable habitat: a review. Oikos 71:355–366

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Berg G, Nordal I, Hestmark G (1998) The effect of breeding systems and pollination vectors on the genetic variation of small plant populations within an agricultural landscape. Oikos 81:17–29

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cruzan MB (2001) Population size and fragmentation thresholds for the maintenance of genetic diversity in the herbaceous endemic Scutellaria montana (Lamiaceae). Evolution 55:1569–1580

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Culley TM, Wolfe AD (2001) Population genetic structure of the cleistogamous plant species Viola pubescens Aiton (Violaceae), as indicated by allozyme and ISSR molecular markers. Heredity 86:545–556

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Culley TM, Sbita SJ, Wick A (2007) Population genetic effects of urban habitat fragmentation in the perennial herb Viola pubescens (Violaceae) using ISSR markers. Ann Bot 100:91–100

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Culver DC, Beattie AJ (1978) Myrmecochory in Viola: dynamics of seed-ant interactions in some west Virginia species. J Ecol 66:53–72

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ebdon D (1985) Statistics in geography: Blackwell, Oxford, UK, pp 143–148

  • El Mousadik A, Petit RJ (1996) High level of genetic differentiation for allelic richness among populations of the argan tree Argania spinosa (L) Skeels endemic to Morocco. Theor Appl Genet 92:832–839

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Fahrig L (2003) Effects of habitat fragmentation on biodiversity. Annu Rev Ecol Evol Syst 34:487–515

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fore SA, Hickey RJ, Vankat JL, Gunttman SI, Schaefer RL (1992) Genetic structure after forest fragmentation: a landscape ecology perspective on Acer saccharum. Can J Bot 70:1659–1668

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Goddard MA, Dougill AJ, Benton TG (2010) Scaling up from gardens: biodiversity conservation in urban environments. Trends Ecol Evol 25:90–98

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Godefroid S, Koedam N (2003) How important are large vs. small forest remnants for the conservation of the woodland flora in an urban context? Glob Ecol Biogeogr 12:287–298

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Goudet J (1995) FSTAT (Version 1.2): a computer program to calculate F-statistics. J Hered 86:485–486

    Google Scholar 

  • Hama E (2002) The wild violets of Japan in color: Seibundo Shinkosha, Tokyo (in Japanese), pp 2–11, 50–53

  • Hobbs RJ, Yates CJ (2003) Turner Review No. 7. Impacts of ecosystem fragmentation on plant populations: generalising the idiosyncratic. Aust J Bot 51:471–488

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Honnay O, Jacquemyn H (2007) Susceptibility of common and rare plant species to the genetic consequences of habitat fragmentation. Conserv Biol 21(3):823–831

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Honnay O, Hermy M, Coppin AP (1999) Effects of area, age and diversity of forest patches in Belgium on plant species richness, and implications for conservation and reforestation. Biol Conserv 87:73–84

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Honnay O, Bossuyt B, Jacquemyn H, Shimono A, Uchiyama K (2008) Can a seed bank maintain the genetic variation in the above ground plant population? Oikos 117:1–5

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Horning ME, Webster MS (2009) Conservation genetics of remnant Lilium philadelphicum populations in the Midwestern United States. Am Midl Nat 161:286–300

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hosogi D, Kameyama A (2004) Timing for the collection of topsoil from a deciduous forest for use as planting material in suburban Tokyo, Japan. Ecol Eng 23:371–386

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Imanishi A, Imanishi J, Murakami K, Morimoto Y (2005) A study for conservation of herbaceous plants at urban green spaces: a comparison to suburban secondary forest. J Landsc Archit Asia 1:127–132

    Google Scholar 

  • Kalinowski ST (2004) Counting alleles with rarefaction: private alleles and hierarchical sampling designs. Conserv Genet 5:539–543

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kwak MM, Velterop O, van Angel J (1998) Pollen and gene flow in fragmented habitats. Appl Veg Sci 1:37–54

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ledig FT (1992) Human impacts on genetic diversity in forest ecosystems. Oikos 63:87–108

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lian C, Hogetsu T (2002) Development of microsatellite markers in black locust (Robinia pseudoacasia) using a dual-suppression-PCR technique. Mol Ecol Notes 2:211–213

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Lian C, Wadud MA, Geng Q, Shimatani K, Hougetsu T (2006) An improved technique for isolating codominant compound microsatellite markers. J Plant Res 119:415–417

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • McKinney ML (2002) Urbanization, biodiversity, and conservation. Bioscience 52:883–890

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Milligan B (1992) Plant DNA isolation. In: Hoelzel AR (ed) Molecular genetic analysis of populations: a practical approach. IRL Press, Oxford, pp 59–88

    Google Scholar 

  • Mills LS, Tallmon DA (1999) The role of genetics in understanding forest fragmentation. In: Rochelle JA, Lehmann LA, Wisniewski J (eds) Forest fragmentation: wildlife and management implications. Brill, Boston, pp 171–186

    Google Scholar 

  • Oostermeijer JGB, Luijten SH, den Nijs JCM (2003) Integrating demographic and genetic approaches in plant conservation. Biol Conserv 113:389–398

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Park SDE (2001) Trypanotolerance in West African cattle and the population genetic effects of selection. Dissertation, University of Dublin

  • Prober SM, Brown AHD (1994) Conservation of the grassy white box woodlands: populations genetics and fragmentation of Eucalyptus albens. Conserv Biol 8:1003–1013

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • R Development Core Team (2012) R-2.15.2: A language and environment for statistical computing. R foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, Austria

  • Van Rossum F (2008) Conservation of long-lived perennial forest herbs in an urban context: Primula elatior as study case. Conserv Genet 9:119–128

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Whigham DF (2004) Ecology of woodland herbs in temperate deciduous forests. Annu Rev Ecol Evol Syst 35:583–621

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wright S (1969) Evolution and the genetics of population. The theory of gene frequencies, vol 2. University of Chicago Press, Chicago

    Google Scholar 

  • Young AG, Merriam HG, Warwick SI (1993) The effects of forest fragmentation on genetic variation in Acer saccharum Marsh. (sugar maple) populations. Heredity 71:277–289

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Young A, Boyle T, Brown T (1996) The population genetic consequences of habitat fragmentation for plants. Trends Ecol Evol 11:413–418

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Young AG, Brown AHD, Zich FA (1999) Genetic structure of fragmented populations of the endangered daisy Rutidosis leptorrhynchoides. Conserv Biol 13:256–265

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by JSPS KAKENHI grant number 22241010.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Social and Public Affairs Business Unit, Mitsubishi Research Institute, Inc. 10-3, Nagatacho 2-Chome, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, Japan

    Yuichi Toma

  2. Graduate School of Global Environmental Studies, Kyoto University, Kitashirakawa Oiwake-cho, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto, Japan

    Junichi Imanishi & Shozo Shibata

  3. Osaka Museum of Natural History, Nagai Park 1-23, Higashi-Sumiyoshi-ku, Osaka, Japan

    Masashi Yokogawa

  4. Department of Environmental Bioscience, Faculty of Agriculture, Meijo University, Shiogamaguchi 1-501, Tenpaku-ku, Nagoya, Aichi, Japan

    Hiroshi Hashimoto

  5. Faculty of Applied Sociology, Kindai University, 228-3 Shinkamikosaka, Higashiosaka, Osaka, Japan

    Ayumi Imanishi

  6. Faculty of Bio-environmental Science, Kyoto Gakuen University, Nanjo Otani 1-1, Sogabe-cho, Kameoka-shi, Kyoto, Japan

    Yukihiro Morimoto

  7. Oshima Island Branch Office, Tokyo Metropolitan Government Bureau of General Affairs, 222-1 Ondashi, Motomachi, Oshima-machi, Tokyo, Japan

    Yuki Hatanaka

  8. Graduate School of Agriculture, Kyoto University, Kitashirakawa Oiwake-cho, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto, Japan

    Yuji Isagi

Authors
  1. Yuichi Toma
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Junichi Imanishi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Masashi Yokogawa
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Hiroshi Hashimoto
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Ayumi Imanishi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Yukihiro Morimoto
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Yuki Hatanaka
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  8. Yuji Isagi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  9. Shozo Shibata
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yuichi Toma.

Electronic supplementary material

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

Supplementary material 1 (PDF 111 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Toma, Y., Imanishi, J., Yokogawa, M. et al. Factors affecting the genetic diversity of a perennial herb Viola grypoceras A. Gray var. grypoceras in urban fragmented forests. Landscape Ecol 30, 1435–1447 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-015-0197-1

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-015-0197-1

Keywords

Search

Navigation