A Comparative Assessment of Genetic Diversity Between Populations of Casearia sylvestris Swartz on a Restored and Natural Atlantic Rainforest Remnant

The Atlantic Rainforest conservation is one of the major environmental concerns in Brazil. The preservation of natural vegetation should be associated with forest restoration, to ensure the continuity of this rich biota. Several forest restoration projects have been conducted so far in Brazil, whose main concern is the floristic diversity with disregard for the genetic diversity, therefore they originate numerous problems for the future biological viability of these communities. New conservation projects should involve targeted studies and reforestation practices allied to population genetics studies. One of the species commonly used in restoration projects is Casearia sylvestris Sw. (Salicaceae), a neotropical tree used in the popular medicine and in recent prospection of new drugs. The aim of this study was to characterize the genetic diversity of this species in an area that is under forest restoration processes (Iracemápolis) and compared with a natural remnant of semideciduous seasonal forest (Caetetus) of the Atlantic Rainforest. In each area, the informative profiles of 64 individuals were generated thought the screening of 6 AFLP primer combinations. Results indicated that the highest genetic variation occurs within population, and were observed that both populations were slightly structured in space although the genetic-geographic correlation was not identified. A total of 25 candidate outlier loci associated with selection process were found. A genotyping-by-sequencing analysis will be performed with other two populations to compare the results and provide a support for genetic resource management of these populations.