Journal
NEW PHYTOLOGIST
Volume 218, Issue 4, Pages 1658-1667Publisher
WILEY
DOI: 10.1111/nph.15107
Keywords
forest ecology and evolution; genetic diversity; intraspecific variation; negative density dependence; negative frequency-dependent selection; plant recruitment; tropics
Categories
Funding
- FCAT (Fundacion para la Conservacion de los Andes Tropicales)
- Jatun Sacha Foundation
- Ecuadorian Ministry of the Environment
- Conservation, Food & Health Foundation
- Disney Conservation Fund
- National Science Foundation (EAGER) [1548548]
- National Science Foundation (DDIG) [1501514]
- National Geographic Society
- Tulane University
- United States Fish & Wildlife Service (NMBCA) [5605]
- Division Of Environmental Biology
- Direct For Biological Sciences [1548548, 1501514] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
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Negative density dependence, where survival decreases as density increases, is a wellestablished driver of species diversity at the community level, but the degree to which a similar process might act on the density or frequency of genotypes within a single plant species to maintain genetic diversity has not been well studied in natural systems. In this study, we determined the maternal genotype of naturally dispersed seeds of the palm Oenocarpus bataua within a tropical forest in northwest Ecuador, tracked the recruitment of each seed, and assessed the role of individual-level genotypic rarity on survival. We demonstrate that negative frequency-dependent selection within this species conferred a survival advantage to rare maternal genotypes and promoted population-level genetic diversity. The strength of the observed rare genotype survival advantage was comparable to the effect of conspecific density regardless of genotype. These findings corroborate an earlier, experimental study and implicate negative frequency-dependent selection of genotypes as an important, but currently underappreciated, determinant of plant recruitment and within-species genetic diversity. Incorporating intraspecific genetic variation into studies and theory of forest dynamics may improve our ability to understand and manage forests, and the processes that maintain their diversity.
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