The demographic history of Madagascan micro-endemics: have rare species always been rare?

ABSTRACT: Extinction has increased as human activities impact ecosystems, yet relatively few species have conservation assessments. Novel approaches are needed to highlight threatened species that are currently data-deficient. Many Madagascan plant species have extremely narrow ranges, but this may not have always been the case-it is unclear how the island's diverse flora evolved. To assess this, we generated restriction-site associated DNA sequence data for 10 Madagascan plant species, estimated effective population size (N_e) for each species and compared this to census (N_c) sizes. In each case, N_e was an order of magnitude larger than N_c-signifying rapid, recent population decline. We then estimated species' demographic histor

SUBMITTER: Helmstetter AJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8456134 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature