Format: ORAL

Carolina S Carvalho, Brbara S S Leal, Jacqueline S Lima, Carlos Eduardo Batista, Rafael Assis, Mauricio Watanabe, Ceclio Caldeira, Valria Tavares

Instituto Tecnológico Vale, Belém, Brazil

Endemic species with limited geographic ranges are more prone to the negative effects of genetic drift and their consequences, especially when their habitat overlaps with economically valuable areas. This is the case of endemic plants associated with the Eastern Amazon cangas, a unique ecosystem limited by high iron concentration in the soils, which faces substantial threats from some of the worlds largest iron ore mines. The conservation challenges in this ecosystem arise because just as plants adapted to iron-rich soils exhibit non-random distribution, often clustering in specific microclimatic and edaphic conditions; iron mining activities cannot also be haphazard due to variations in iron ore presence and quality. In response to this conservation dilemma, we have conducted comprehensive studies, integrating ecology and conservation and landscape genomics. By investigating the neutral genomic variation, we have found a scenario of conservation concern for three highly restricted endemic species, with simulations indicating a worsening of such scenario in a few decades if population sizes further decline. Conversely, certain species have demonstrated remarkable resilience, with genetic diversity and gene flow patterns remaining unaffected by mining-induced habitat loss. The use of genotype-phenotype-environment associations has offered further insights into adaptive genomic variation for restoration purposes. For example, our findings indicate that whereas local provenances were found optimal to restore a moderately disturbed site, a mixture of genotypes seems to be the most promising strategy for the recovery of highly degraded mining site. Our studies suggest that vulnerability cannot be easily predicted for co-distributed species, implying the need to obtain species-specific estimates to assess the extinction risks and inform decision-makers for conservation efforts. Based on our studies, we will discuss the main challenges in reconciling conservation with mining activities in unique and highly diverse environments.