Search results for "Habitat Degradation"
showing 3 items of 3 documents
Conservation genetics of an endemic from the Mediterranean Basin: high genetic differentiation but no genetic diversity loss from the last population…
2013
The Mediterranean Basin is a biodiversity hotspot, housing > 11.000 narrowly endemic plant species, many of which are declining due to mass tourism and agricultural intensification. To investigate the genetic resource impacts of ongoing habitat loss and degradation, we characterized the genetic variation in the last known populations of Leopoldia gussonei, a self-compatible endangered Sicilian Grape Hyacinth numbering less than 3,000 remaining individuals, using AFLP. Results demonstrated significant genome-wide genetic differentiation among all extant populations (I broken vertical bar(ST) = 0.05-0.56), and genetic clustering according to geographic location. Gene diversity was fairly c…
Rediscovery of the enigmatic solifuges (Arachnida: Solifugae) at Lampedusa Island (Italy)
2018
Solifuges were recorded in Italy for the first time in 1956, on the island of Lampedusa (Strait of Sicily), and classified as Biton ehrenbergi Karsch, 1880 and Biton velox Simon, 1885. More than 60 years later, we carried out the first targeted investigation of these little-known animals. A survey conducted during both spring and autumn 2017 confirmed the presence of solifuges on Lampedusa Island. We identified all specimens as B. velox and not B. ehrenbergi. We concluded that B. ehrenbergi is absent from the island, on the basis of both newly collected data and a re-evaluation of the past records. Morphology and taxonomic position of the examined specimens are discussed in light of the unr…
Data from: Recolonization after habitat restoration leads to decreased genetic variation in populations of a terrestrial orchid
2012
Colonization is crucial to habitat restoration projects that rely on the spontaneous regeneration of the original vegetation. However, as a previously declining plant species spreads again, the likelihood of founder effects increases through recurrent population founding and associated serial bottlenecks. We related AFLP genetic variation and fitness of all extant populations of the outcrossing terrestrial orchid Dactylorhiza incarnata in an isolated coastal dune complex to colonization history. Around 1970, D. incarnata suffered a severe bottleneck yet eventually persisted and gradually spread throughout the spatially segregated dune slacks, aided by the restoration of an open vegetation. …