title: History or ecology? Substrate type as a major driver of spatial genetic structure in Alpine plants.
abstract: Climatic history and ecology are considered the most important factors moulding the spatial pattern of genetic diversity. With the advent of molecular markers, species' historical fates have been widely explored. However, it has remained speculative what role ecological factors have played in shaping spatial genetic structures within species. With an unprecedented, dense large-scale sampling and genome-screening, we tested how ecological factors have influenced the spatial genetic structures in Alpine plants. Here, we show that species growing on similar substrate types, largely determined by the nature of bedrock, displayed highly congruent spatial genetic structures. As the heterogeneous and disjunctive distribution of bedrock types in the Alps, decisive for refugial survival during the ice ages, is temporally stable, concerted post-glacial migration routes emerged. Our multispecies study demonstrates the relevance of particular ecological factors in shaping genetic patterns, which should be considered when modelling species projective distributions under climate change scenarios.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biology, University of Neuchâtel, 2000 Neuchâtel, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Nadir
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Alvarez
authors.forename: Conny
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Thiel-Egenter
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tribsch
authors.forename: Rolf
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Holderegger
authors.forename: Stéphanie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Manel
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Schönswetter
authors.forename: Pierre
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Taberlet
authors.forename: Sabine
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Brodbeck
authors.forename: Myriam
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gaudeul
authors.forename: Ludovic
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Gielly
authors.forename: Philippe
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Küpfer
authors.forename: Guilhem
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Mansion
authors.forename: Riccardo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Negrini
authors.forename: Ovidiu
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Paun
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pellecchia
authors.forename: Delphine
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Rioux
authors.forename: Fanny
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Schüpfer
authors.forename: Marcela
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Van Loo
authors.forename: Manuela
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Winkler
authors.forename: Felix
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Gugerli
mesh_terms: D044822:Biodiversity; D002980:Climate; D016172:DNA Fingerprinting; D005843:Geography; D010802:Phylogeny; D063245:Plant Development; D010944:Plants / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics*; D012987:Soil; D013045:Species Specificity; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D012987:Soil