Genomic climate adaptation through ddRADseq of Primula elatior
Assisted gene flow is a conservation strategy aiming to increase the resilience of populations to climate change. We here combine common gardens with conservation genomics for a common understory species, Primula elatior, to formally compare reinforcement with southern vs. regional genotypes as sources for assisted gene flow. Our findings indicate that southern genotypes have the largest impact on the genomic potential to cope with climate change, but regional genotypes too increase adaptive potential, most likely due to microclimate differences between source and target populations. We argue that the importance of micro-scale environmental variation in boosting resilience to climate change deserves to be considered more frequently in science and conservation as a climate-oriented conservation strategy with strongly reduced risk of outbreeding depression.