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Biodiversity in Forests of the Ancient Maya Lowlands and Genetic Variation in a Dominant Tree, Manilkara zapota (Sapotaceae): Ecological and Anthropogenic Implications

Thompson, Kim M
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1383812360

Abstract Details

2013, PhD, University of Cincinnati, Arts and Sciences: Biological Sciences.
The overall goal of this study was to determine if there are associations between silviculture practices of the ancient Maya and the biodiversity of the modern forest. This was accomplished by conducting paleoethnobotanical, ecological and genetic investigations at reforested but historically urbanized ancient Maya ceremonial centers. The first part of our investigation was conducted at Tikal National Park, where we surveyed the tree community of the modern forest and recovered preserved plant remains from ancient Maya archaeological contexts. The second set of investigations focused on genetic variation and structure in Manilkara zapota (L.) P. Royen, one of the dominant trees in both the modern forest and the paleoethnobotanical remains at Tikal. We hypothesized that the dominant trees at Tikal would be positively correlated with the most abundant ancient plant remains recovered from the site and that these trees would have higher economic value for contemporary Maya cultures than trees that were not dominant. We identified 124 species of trees and vines in 43 families. Moderate levels of evenness (J=0.69-0.80) were observed among tree species with shared levels of dominance (1-D=0.94). From the paleoethnobotanical remains, we identified a total of 77 morphospecies of woods representing at least 31 plant families with 38 identified to the species level. A significant proportion of trees used by the ancient Maya remain as dominant species in the forest today but no associations were detected based on economic value. Manilkara zapota was previously hypothesized to have been cultivated by the ancient Maya. We used seven original nuclear microsatellite markers as well as two primer sets identified in a related species to discern whether the influences of ancient Maya management were evident in modern populations. We characterized genetic variation and structure in populations of M. zapota from Tikal and from home gardens in Guatemala, as well as from two other ancient Maya sites in Belize (Chawak But'o'ob and La Milpa), and a group of clonally propagated cultivars. Levels of genetic variation were higher in forest and garden populations (HO =0.50) than in cultivated varieties of M. zapota (HO =0.40) and were more similar to Neotropical timber trees than Neotropical fruit trees. Excess homozygosity was detected, consistent with a history of inbreeding (f=0.118) and successive population bottlenecks. In contrast, low population sub-structuring (Θ=0.007) was observed between sites 90 km apart, attributed in large part to high gene flow. We explored whether populations of M. zapota might be rebounding from historic bottlenecks in recently protected forest regions by examining changes in genetic variation and structure across multiple size classes, representing life history stages ranging from sapling to adult. No significant differences in genetic variation nor population differentiation were detected as a function of size classes within or among populations from the three ancient Maya sites. Overall patterns of heterozygote deficiency remained relatively consistent across all size classes. Parentage analyses supported the potential for high gene flow that had previously been indicated by low levels of population genetic structure and animal dispersal patterns.
David Lentz, Ph.D. (Committee Chair)
Regina Baucom, Ph.D. (Committee Member)
Theresa Culley, Ph.D. (Committee Member)
Nicholas Dunning, Ph.D. (Committee Member)
Steven Rogstad, Ph.D. (Committee Member)
Vernon Scarborough, Ph.D. (Committee Member)
194 p.
Biology
Manilkara zapota; Sapodilla; Maya; Neotropical trees; Neotropical forests; Paleoethnobotany

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Thompson, K. M. (2013). Biodiversity in Forests of the Ancient Maya Lowlands and Genetic Variation in a Dominant Tree, Manilkara zapota (Sapotaceae): Ecological and Anthropogenic Implications [Doctoral dissertation, University of Cincinnati]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1383812360

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Thompson, Kim. Biodiversity in Forests of the Ancient Maya Lowlands and Genetic Variation in a Dominant Tree, Manilkara zapota (Sapotaceae): Ecological and Anthropogenic Implications. 2013. University of Cincinnati, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1383812360.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Thompson, Kim. "Biodiversity in Forests of the Ancient Maya Lowlands and Genetic Variation in a Dominant Tree, Manilkara zapota (Sapotaceae): Ecological and Anthropogenic Implications." Doctoral dissertation, University of Cincinnati, 2013. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1383812360

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

ucin1383812360
921
© 2013, some rights reserved.Creative Commons License Biodiversity in Forests of the Ancient Maya Lowlands and Genetic Variation in a Dominant Tree, Manilkara zapota (Sapotaceae): Ecological and Anthropogenic Implications by Kim M Thompson is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. Based on a work at etd.ohiolink.edu.
This open access ETD is published by University of Cincinnati and OhioLINK.