Dataset Information

Genetic Diversity of Invasive Spartina alterniflora Loisel. (Poaceae) Introduced Unintentionally Into Japan and Its Invasion Pathway.

ABSTRACT: Among invasive species, aquatic plants pose serious threats to local biodiversity and ecosystem functions. Spartina alterniflora Loisel. (Poaceae), native to the eastern United States, was introduced unintentionally into Japan (Aichi and Kumamoto Prefectures) at around 2010. This invasive species could easily and rapidly spread to estuarine areas of Japan via vigorous trade and transport, making the prediction of its future invasion necessary. Here, the distribution and structure of the genetic variation of S. alterniflora in Japan were examined using chloroplast DNA (cpDNA) and microsatellite genotyping analyses for clarifying its invasion route and process. According to the cpDNA analysis, S. alterniflora populations in Japan had a single haplotype (haplotype C4) that is the most dominant genotype around the Florida Peninsula, the region of its origin, and is also widely found in the introduced populations in the East Asia. Microsatellite analysis also showed a loss of genetic diversity in Japanese S. alterniflora populations (allelic richness (A R) = 1.20-1.39) compared with that in its native region (A R = 4.58-4.59), suggesting a founder effect on S. alterniflora that might have occurred after invasion of the species into Japan. The principal coordinate analysis and The STRUCTURE analysis indicated that no gene mixing among Japanese local populations (Aichi, northern and southern Kumamoto) was observed, indicating that Spartina invasion occurred independently into these regions. Among the three regions, trading between the ports of northern Kumamoto and the U.S. was obviously lower than trading with China. We concluded that invasive S. alterniflora might have independently invaded Japan at different times through an East Asia route, particularly via China (i.e., secondary introduction). Therefore, it is important to strengthen the quarantine control on the importation of commodities, especially of transport vehicles at potential donor spots (i.e., border control/border biosecurity system), and to share information networks on invasive species between each region/port for minimizing further risks of biological species such as Spartina.

SUBMITTER: Maebara Y

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7503347 | biostudies-literature | 2020

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Genetic Diversity of Invasive Spartina alterniflora Loisel. (Poaceae) Introduced Unintentionally Into Japan and Its Invasion Pathway.

Maebara Yu Y Tamaoki Masanori M Iguchi Yuka Y Nakahama Naoyuki N Hanai Takaaki T Nishino Atsushi A Hayasaka Daisuke D

Frontiers in plant science 20200907

Among invasive species, aquatic plants pose serious threats to local biodiversity and ecosystem functions. Spartina alterniflora Loisel. (Poaceae), native to the eastern United States, was introduced unintentionally into Japan (Aichi and Kumamoto Prefectures) at around 2010. This invasive species could easily and rapidly spread to estuarine areas of Japan via vigorous trade and transport, making the prediction of its future invasion necessary. Here, the distribution and structure o ...[more]

PMID: 33013973

Similar Datasets

Project description:Hundreds of plants and half a kilogram of seeds of Spartina alterniflora, which were collected from Morehead City in North Carolina, Sapelo Island in Georgia, and Tampa Bay in Florida, were introduced to China in 1979. However, according to documented records, S. alterniflora from different origins were introduced to different areas when the species was first introduced to the coastal areas of China in the 1980s. In order to understand the relationship between the invasive S. alterniflora populations of China and the native S. alterniflora populations of the United States, and whether the genetic structure and genetic diversity of the invasive populations of China were affected by different introductions in the 1980s, molecular markers were used to determine the levels of gene flow and its effect on population differentiation. A total of 715 samples of S. alterniflora were collected from nine invasive populations in China and nine native populations from the United States. The genetic diversity and genetic structure of invasive and native populations were compared using microsatellite markers. The heterozygosity of Chinese invasive populations of S. alterniflora (HO = 0.538, HE = 0.725) were similar with those of native populations (HO = 0.530, HE = 0.744), which may attribute to its multiple introductions with the multisource populations from different geographic areas of the United States. However, the lower allelic diversities of Chinese invasive populations were detected, which may be due to the founder effect, or the bottleneck, which supports the theory that the allelic diversity is more sensitive to population bottlenecks than heterozygosity. The results of the STRUCTURE analysis among all sampling sites showed that the value of ΔK was largest when K = 2, which indicated that the invasive S. alterniflora populations in China had completed differentiated from the native populations of the United States. This may be because of admixture and hybridization of three non-overlapping original populations, or the postintroduction rapid evolution in China, and reproductive isolation under long-term geographic isolation. There was significant differentiation among invasive populations, which was mainly affected by different human-mediated introductions in 1980s. Significant genetic structure (K = 7) and high genetic differentiation (Fst = 0.30193) were detected in Chinese invasive populations, which may due to the low natural gene flow among populations. The genetic structure of the invasive populations in China was still affected by the human-mediated introductions in the 1980s, and the different initial introductions might promote differentiation among the invasive populations. In fact, the human-mediated long-distance dispersal should take the most of responsibility for the rapid spread of S. alterniflora along the coast of China. Multisource introductions of S. alterniflora are perhaps helpful for local adaptation but itself cannot cause rapid spread along the whole coast of China. Meanwhile, we suggest that the prevention of gene exchange among populations of S. alterniflora is the first and most important step in the control of the species on the coast of China, because admixture and hybridization of isolated populations might generate new heterosis and increase the difficulty of managing S. alterniflora in China.

Dataset Information

Genetic Diversity of Invasive Spartina alterniflora Loisel. (Poaceae) Introduced Unintentionally Into Japan and Its Invasion Pathway.

Publications

Genetic Diversity of Invasive <i>Spartina alterniflora</i> Loisel. (Poaceae) Introduced Unintentionally Into Japan and Its Invasion Pathway.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets