Extensive pollen flow may counteract the effects of landscape fragmentation

MARCHELLI, PAULA; MORENO, ANGELA CAROLINA; GALLO, LEONARDO ARIEL

IALE Landscape Research and Management papers

International Association of Landscape Ecology

Año: 2007 p. 94 - 101

1570-6532

Pollen flow might constitute a fundamental factor in balancing some of the negative effects of forest fragmentation. Wind pollinated species in Patagonia can overcome the isolation of populations by mechanisms of extensive pollen flow favored by the strong directional winds of the region. Several species of Patagonia have passed through a fragmentation process. In order to evaluate the degree of connectivity between populations and therefore the effect of fragmentation, pollen flow studies are being conducted in Nothofagus nervosa, Austrocedrus chilensis and Araucaria araucana. In N. nervosa, we began with an intrapopulation pollen flow study in order to establish the pollen dispersal curve (and the effective pollination distance). We collected buds and seeds from 25 mother trees and we are analysing between 10 to 20 seedlings per mother. For A. chilensis and A. araucana we have recently begun a project in order to study pollen flow in fragmented populations in the steppe. For that purpose we have sampled mothers and seeds from different locations with a spatially explicit design (total of 140 mothers and 30 seeds/ mother). We are analyzing the material with microsatellites markers and applying the TWOGENER method. Preliminary results, problems and perspectives of both studies are presented and discussed