Local Adaptation in European Firs Assessed through Extensive Sampling across Altitudinal Gradients in Southern Europe.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Local adaptation is a key driver of phenotypic and genetic divergence at loci responsible for adaptive traits variations in forest tree populations. Its experimental assessment requires rigorous sampling strategies such as those involving population pairs replicated across broad spatial scales.

Methods

A hierarchical Bayesian model of selection (HBM) that explicitly considers both the replication of the environmental contrast and the hierarchical genetic structure among replicated study sites is introduced. Its power was assessed through simulations and compared to classical 'within-site' approaches (FDIST, BAYESCAN) and a simplified, within-site, version of the model introduced here (SBM).

Results

HBM demonstrates that hierarchical approaches are very powe

SUBMITTER: Brousseau L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4938419 | biostudies-literature | 2016

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature