An alpine plant shows no decrease in genetic diversity associated with rapid post-glacial range expansion.

ABSTRACT:

Premise

While range expansion is hypothesized to be a mechanism for species persistence under climate change, many eco-evolutionary models describe demographic and genetic processes during expansion that may increase genetic drift, decrease genetic variation, and ultimately decrease relative fitness at the leading edge. These predictions assume dispersal occurs from the low-density leading edge during colonization, common in post-glacial expansion at the continental scale (~20,000 years ago), but relatively understudied on contemporary timescales, like alpine glacier recession since the end of the Little Ice Age (~150 years ago).

Methods

We use the native alpine plant Erythranthe (Mimulus) lewisii to quantify neutral genetic diversity (single nucleotide polymorphisms) and in

SUBMITTER: Urquhart-Cronish M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12712769 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature