Diversity and Genetic Structure of Dipteryx alata Vogel (Fabaceae) Populations in the Cerrado-Amazon Ecotone, Brazil

Many anthropic activities, such as deforestation, agriculture, livestock production, and urbanization, can negatively affect the Cerrado biodiversity. The intense fragmentation of the Cerrado produced by human activities results in the decline of biological populations, loss of genetic diversity, loss of habitat, and extinction of species. The objective of this study was to analyze the genetic diversity between and within five populations of Dipteryx alata , a native species to the Cerrado, using ten microsatellite markers, to support the management and conservation of the species. The genetic diversity of the populations studied was verified through the mean number of alleles (5.36), observed heterozygosity ( Ho = 0.82), and expected heterozygosity ( He = 0.62). Thus, genetic diversity was considered high, where more than 90% is distributed within populations. A high but non-significant positive correlation was detected between the genetic and geographic distances of the groups of individuals in the fragments ( r = 0.69, p = 0.18). However, G’ ST values indicated a low genetic differentiation between populations, reaffirmed by the analysis of the structured program, which indicated that there were two levels of structuring, with three to four clusters in the sample, suggesting that these natural populations were structured in the past as a continuous population.