DIVERSITY AND GENETIC STRUCTURE IN NATURAL POPULATIONS OF Hancornia speciosa var. speciosa GOMES IN NORTHEASTERN BRAZIL

Hancornia speciosa Gomes is a fruit tree native from Brazil that belongs to Apocinaceae family, and is popularly known as Mangabeira. Its fruits are widely consumed raw or processed as fruit jam, juices and ice creams, which have made it a target of intense exploitation. The extractive activities and intense human activity on the environment of natural occurrence of H. speciosa has caused genetic erosion in the species and little is known about the ecology or genetic structure of natural populations. The objective of this research was the evaluation of the genetic diversity and genetic structure of H. speciosa var. speciosa. The genetic variability was assessed using 11 allozyme loci with a sample of 164 individuals distributed in six natural populations located in the States of Pernambuco and Alagoas, Northeastern Brazil. The results showed a high level of genetic diversity within the species ((H) over cap (e) = 0.36) seeing that the most of the genetic variability of H. speciosa var. speciosa is within its natural populations with low difference among populations ((theta) over cap (p) = 0.081). The inbreeding values within ((f) over cap = -0.555) and among populations ((F) over cap =-0.428) were low showing lacking of endogamy and a surplus of heterozygotes. The estimated gene flow ((N) over cap (m)) was high, ranging from 2.20 to 13.18, indicating to be enough to prevent the effects of genetic drift and genetic differentiation among populations. The multivariate analyses indicated that there is a relationship between genetic and geographical distances, which was confirmed by a spatial pattern analysis using Mantel test (r = 0.3598; p = 0.0920) with 1000 random permutations. The high genetic diversity index in these populations indicates potential for in situ genetic conservation.