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Genetic variation for growth, morphological, and physiological traits in a wild population of the Neotropical shade­tolerant rainforest tree Sextonia rubra (Mez) van der Werff (Lauraceae)

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Abstract

Quantitative genetic diversity is a fundamental component of the interaction between natural populations and their environment. In breeding programmes, quantitative genetic studies on tropical trees have so far focused on fast-growing, light-demanding species, but no information exists on shade-tolerant, slow-growing species. For this study, 27 3-year-old open-pollinated families of the Neotropical shade-tolerant rainforest tree Sextonia rubra were measured in semicontrolled conditions for 20 morphological, growth, and photosynthesis traits; the effect of genetic relatedness, habitat of provenance, and mother tree status on seedling traits was analysed. Nine traits displayed significant genetic effects, while mother tree status and habitat effects were not significant (P > 0.05) for an y trait. Estimated heritability varied between 0.14 and 0.28, with growth-related traits having the highest values. Additive genetic variation correlated positively with nonheritable variation, suggesting that ecological–evolutionary factors increasing or decreasing additive genetic variance may also affect nonheritable variation in the same direction. Our results suggest that quantitative genetic variability should be taken into account in ecological studies on, and in the management of, natural tropical rainforests; further research is needed to investigate genetic × environment interactions, in particular from the point of view of the genetic response of shade-tolerant plant species to variations in light availability.

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Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank Saintano Dufort and Saint-Omer Cazal for help with plant handling and shadehouse work, Jean-Yves Goret and Valérie Troispoux for their contribution to the photosynthesis measurements, Antoine Kremer, Pauline Garnier-Géré, and Christopher Baraloto for useful discussions, and François Lefèvre and three anonymous reviewers for critically reading the manuscript.

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Author notes

  1. Leticia Calvo-Vialettes

    Present address: Rainforest Alliance Inc. Programme SmartWood, C/Arganda, 36, bajo izq, 28005, Madrid, Spain

Authors and Affiliations

  1. INRA—Unité Mixte de Recherche “Ecologie des Forêts de Guyane”, 97387, Kourou, French Guiana

    Ivan Scotti, Caroline Scotti-Saintagne & Damien Bonal

  2. AgroParisTech—Unité Mixte de Recherche “Ecologie des Forêts de Guyane”, 97387, Kourou, French Guiana

    Leticia Calvo-Vialettes

  3. CIRAD—Unité Mixte de Recherche “Ecologie des Forêts de Guyane”, 97387, Kourou, French Guiana

    Maurizio Citterio

  4. Johann Heinrich von Thünen-Institut, Bundesforschungsinstitut für Ländliche Räume, Wald und Fischerei, Institut für Forstgenetik, 22927, Grosshansdorf, Germany

    Bernd Degen

Authors
  1. Ivan Scotti
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  2. Leticia Calvo-Vialettes
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  3. Caroline Scotti-Saintagne
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  4. Maurizio Citterio
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  5. Bernd Degen
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  6. Damien Bonal
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ivan Scotti.

Additional information

Communicated by R. Burdon

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Supplementary Table 1

Results of Bayesian estimation of total (true) population genetic variance. Mean mean value, sd standard deviation, lower, upper limit limits of the credible interval at 2.5% and 97.5%, respectively; median median value (DOC 48.5 kb)

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Scotti, I., Calvo-Vialettes, L., Scotti-Saintagne, C. et al. Genetic variation for growth, morphological, and physiological traits in a wild population of the Neotropical shade­tolerant rainforest tree Sextonia rubra (Mez) van der Werff (Lauraceae). Tree Genetics & Genomes 6, 319–329 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11295-009-0251-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11295-009-0251-8

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