Abstract
Arctic relict populations, which persist in disjunct locations far south of a species’ normal range, are at the frontline of climate change and may be especially susceptible to the negative impacts of climate warming. Further, these relict populations may face increasing contact with, or become outcompeted by, invasive species if the invasive taxa are spreading along with the warming climate. Relict populations are simultaneously of particular conservation importance due to their unique genetic make-up and potential for adaptations to warmer temperatures compared to populations at the core of the species range. In this study, we used genotyping-by-sequencing to study the population genetics of Euphrasia hudsoniana, a polyploid arctic disjunct of conservation concern, at the southern edge of its range along the northwestern shore of Lake Superior. In addition, we examined evidence for hybridization with its invasive congener, E. stricta. Overall, we found clear differentiation between the native and invasive species indicated by nearly all analyses. There was limited evidence for gene flow from the invasive into the native species, but patterns were consistent with more extensive gene flow in the opposite direction. Differentiation among native populations was low, yet two of the five populations fell into a separate, distinct group based on STRUCTURE analyses. Continued genetic monitoring of these populations will help elucidate whether hybridization with invasives is a burgeoning threat for this arctic relict.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 43-55 |
| Number of pages | 13 |
| Journal | Conservation Genetics |
| Volume | 19 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Feb 1 2018 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:Acknowledgements We acknowledge L. Gerdes and G. Gusarova for sharing their expertise on Euphrasia species, M Cleveland, A McCormick, the Grand Portage Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, and United States Forest Service for facilitating or providing permission to collect samples, J. Manolis for assistance collecting samples, A. Boser, J. Horky, A. Schumann, and M. Wedger for lab support, the Gross, Strasburg, and Etterson labs, and two anonymous reviewers for helpful comments on this manuscript. This work was funded in part by the Coastal Zone Management Act of 1972, as amended, administered by the Office for Coastal Management, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration under Award NA14NOS4190055 provided to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources for Minnesota’s Lake Superior Coastal Program.
Funding Information:
We acknowledge L. Gerdes and G. Gusarova for sharing their expertise on Euphrasia species, M Cleveland, A McCormick, the Grand Portage Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, and United States Forest Service for facilitating or providing permission to collect samples, J. Manolis for assistance collecting samples, A. Boser, J. Horky, A. Schumann, and M. Wedger for lab support, the Gross, Strasburg, and Etterson labs, and two anonymous reviewers for helpful comments on this manuscript. This work was funded in part by the Coastal Zone Management Act of 1972, as amended, administered by the Office for Coastal Management, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration under Award NA14NOS4190055 provided to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources for Minnesota?s Lake Superior Coastal Program.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2017, Springer Science+Business Media B.V.
Keywords
- Arctic disjunct
- Climate change
- Genotyping-by-sequencing
- Hybridization
- Invasive
- Polyploid
