Relationship among environmental factors with distribution of genetic types of Avicennia marina in mangrove ecosystems of Iran

Mangrove forests are one of the most sensitive forest habitats in Iran due to the presence of endangered and rare species. This study aimed to survey the relationship among ecological parameters of these forests in 4 habitats in southern Iran with the geographical distribution of genetic types, study the diversity of these types, and develop maps of their habitat suitability. After DNA extraction experiments, molecular variance analysis, and the estimation of genetic parameters, 4 genetic types were identified. The relationship of these genetic types with the environmental variables was modeled in MaxEnt software. The habitat suitability map of A. marina genetic types was developed, along with response models to ecological parameters. The results showed that among the studied populations, Qeshm has the highest, and Assaluyeh has the lowest genetic diversity. Furthermore, Qeshm population was only population with specific alleles. The study of the relationship between the establishment of genetic types and environmental parameters in general showed a high impact of salinity and soil temperature, NDVI, wave height, and evaporation in study regions. The red type is native to all habitats in southern Iran, and the purple type is ecologically inferior. The high accuracy of habitat suitability modeling for different types (68 to 99%) shows the efficiency of used model. The results of this research showed that environmental parameters affect the geographical distribution of A. marina genotypes.