Genetic signatures of a range expansion in natura: when clones play leapfrog.

ABSTRACT: The genetic consequences of range expansions have generally been investigated at wide geographical and temporal scales, long after the colonization event. A unique ecological system enabled us to both monitor the colonization dynamics and decipher the genetic footprints of expansion over a very short time period. Each year an epidemic of the poplar rust (Melampsora larici-populina) expands clonally and linearly along the Durance River, in the Alps. The colonization dynamics observed in 2004 showed two phases with different genetic outcomes. Upstream, fast colonization maintained high genetic diversity. Downstream, the colonization wave progressively faltered, diversity eroded, and differentiation increased, as expected under recurrent founder events. In line with the high dispersal

SUBMITTER: Becheler R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5058533 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature