Better-informed mangrove conservation and management practices are needed as the ecosystem services provided by these intertidal forests continue to be threatened by increasing anthropogenic pressures and climate change. Multiple layers of knowledge are required to achieve this goal, including insights into population genetics of mangrove species. Understanding the importance of population-genetic insights to conservation, multiple research groups have developed microsatellite loci for the widespread, neotropical red mangrove, Rhizophora mangle. However, although a wealth of genetic markers exist, empirical research is limited in the number of these loci employed. Here, we designed two multiplex PCR panels that combine seven novel loci developed for this work and eight previously-developed loci from three research groups to generate 15-locus genotypes, more than twice the average number of loci used in previous research, in only two PCR. We demonstrated utility in R. mangle from four sites across ~ 2500 km near this species’ northern latitudinal limits, and that these multiplex panels were better able to delineate populations than data subsets with numbers of loci comparable to previous research. We focus our discussion on how this tool is a more-informative, efficient (both in terms of time and resources), and easily-modifiable alternative to address many pressing conservation and management issues, such as the generation of baseline genetic data for areas not yet studied, better defining management units, and monitoring genetic effects of restoration projects. We also provide a quick protocol that outlines each step in this procedure to facilitate the use of this tool by others.

由于潮间带森林提供的生态系统服务继续受到越来越多的人为压力和气候变化的威胁，因此需要更好地了解和保护红树林。实现这一目标需要多层知识，包括对红树林物种种群遗传学的见识。认识到种群遗传学洞见对于保护的重要性，多个研究小组已经为广泛的新热带红树林Rhizophora mangle开发了微卫星基因座。。然而，尽管存在大量的遗传标记，但是实证研究在所使用的这些基因座的数量上是有限的。在这里，我们设计了两个多重PCR面板，它们结合了为这项工作开发的七个新基因座和来自三个研究小组的八个先前开发的基因座，以产生15个基因座的基因型，是以前研究中平均基因座数量的两倍多，只有两个PCR。我们在R. mangle中展示了实用程序在这个物种的北纬度界限附近约2500 km的四个地点，这些多重面板比具有与以前研究可比的基因座数量的数据子集更能描绘种群。我们将重点讨论该工具如何提供更多信息，更有效（在时间和资源上）以及易于修改的替代方案，以解决许多紧迫的保护和管理问题，例如生成非遗传区域的基线遗传数据还进行了研究，更好地定义了管理单位，并监测了修复项目的遗传效应。我们还提供了一个快速协议，概述了此过程中的每个步骤，以方便其他人使用此工具。