Population genomics of Tillandsia landbeckii reveals unbalanced genetic diversity and founder effects in the Atacama Desert

Merklinger, Félix F.; Zheng, Yichen; Luebert, Federico; Harpke, Dörte; Böhnert, Tim; Stoll, Alexandra; Koch, Marcus A.; Blattner, Frank R.; Wiehe, Thomas; Quandt, Dietmar

doi:10.1016/j.gloplacha.2019.103076

Cited by 16 publications

(31 citation statements)

References 41 publications

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“…Library preparation and genotyping by sequencing protocols followed those of Merklinger et al (2020). Genomic DNA (200 ng) was digested with restriction enzymes PstI‐HF (New England Biolabs, R3140S) and MspI (New England Biolabs, R0106S), followed by size selection, individual barcoding, and single‐end sequencing on the Illumina HiSeq 2500 (Illumina, San Diego, CA, USA).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Quaternary diversification of a columnar cactus in the driest place on earth

Merklinger

Böhnert

Arakaki

et al. 2021

American J of Botany

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Premise The cactus family (Cactaceae) is a speciose lineage with an almost entirely New World distribution. The genus Eulychnia with eight currently recognized species is endemic to the Atacama and Peruvian Deserts. Here we investigated the phylogeny of this group based on a complete taxon sampling to elucidate species delimitation and biogeographic history of the genus. Methods A family‐wide Bayesian molecular clock dating based on plastid sequence data was conducted to estimate the age of Eulychnia and its divergence from its sister genus Austrocactus. A second data set obtained from genotyping by sequencing (GBS) was analyzed, using the family‐wide age estimate as a secondary calibration to date the GBS phylogeny using a penalized likelihood approach. Ancestral ranges were inferred employing the dispersal extinction cladogenesis approach. Results Our GBS phylogeny of Eulychnia was fully resolved with high support values nearly throughout the phylogeny. The split from Austrocactus occurred in the late Miocene, and Eulychnia diversified during the early Quaternary. Three lineages were retrieved: Eulychnia ritteri from Peru is sister to all Chilean species, which in turn fall into two sister clades of three and four species, respectively. Diversification in the Chilean clades started in the early Pleistocene. Eulychnia likely originated at the coastal range of its distribution and colonized inland locations several times. Conclusions Diversification of Eulychnia during the Pleistocene coincides with long periods of hyperaridity alternated with pluvial phases. Hyperaridity caused habitat fragmentation, ultimately leading to speciation and resulting in the current allopatric distribution of taxa.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Quaternary diversification of a columnar cactus in the driest place on earth

Merklinger

Böhnert

Arakaki

et al. 2021

American J of Botany

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“…Refer to Table 3 for significance and correlation values. (d) Linear regression of fresh and dry biomass determination of Tillandsia landbeckii for defined sample volumes role in successful plant establishment at larger geographic scales (Merklinger et al, 2020) as well as at the regional and populational levels (Koch et al, 2019). Fine-scale genetic data from the present study filled a gap between these ancient and evolutionary history spanning thousands and tens of thousands of years and the recent vegetation history with documentation of rapid decline of Chilean-Peruvian fog ecosystems since the mid-1970s (Schulz et al, 2010).…”

Section: Growth and Biomassmentioning

confidence: 73%

“…Although plants easily clonally propagate and distribute, genetic data indicate substantial small-scaled differentiation (Figure 2) but also regional (Koch et al, 2019) and larger-scale genetic differentiation (Merklinger et al, 2020) with signatures of significant outbreeding and geneflow. This raises questions regarding the extent to which the observed structured fitness patterns (growth and flowering; Tables 1 and 3) are explained by individual phenotypic plasticity in response to varying fog water supply or genotype-specific morphotypes, which are mixed and dispersed in a given population.…”

Section: Extreme Environment and Small-scale Local Adaptationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Atacama Desert, Chile, genetic diversity, hyperaridity, local adaptation, loma vegetation, Tillandsia their survival in a hyperarid environment for thousands of years (Koch et al, 2019;Merklinger et al, 2020). Genetic diversity in T. landbeckii can be maintained by different strategies because the species easily clonally propagates with shoot offsets, but also geneflow via pollen and subsequent seed dispersal maintains and continuously creates genetic diversity (Merklinger et al, 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A mean vegetation height of 25 cm and total mean vegetation cover at the Oyarbide field of ~5.5% (calculated from 30 × 30 m grid-based mean coverage,Figure 2) resulted in an average biomass of 189 g/ m 2 dry weight [1.890 kg/ha]. Applying our measured average growth of 13 mm per year to linearly arranged Tillandsia individuals (rows of ~1 m), which can be considered to be at least 75-100 years in age, the yearly biomass production was ~25.2-18.9 kg/ha (1lomas in the Chilean Atacama Desert show varying degrees of genetic connectivity over their entire distribution range(Merklinger et al, 2020). This pattern is underpinned by three main genetic clusters with a peripheral and small southern cluster, a restricted northern cluster, and a major and geographically central cluster, together demonstrating significant correlation of genetic and geographic distance.…”

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Vegetation growth and landscape genetics of Tillandsia lomas at their dry limits in the Atacama Desert show fine‐scale response to environmental parameters

Koch

Stock

Kleinpeter

et al. 2020

Ecology and Evolution

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Leaf wax composition and distribution of Tillandsia landbeckii reflects moisture gradient across the hyperarid Atacama Desert

Contreras

Landahur

García³

et al. 2022

Plant Syst Evol

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In the hyperarid Atacama Desert, water availability plays a crucial role in allowing plant survival. Along with scant rainfall, marine advective fog frequently occurs along the coastal escarpment fueling isolated mono-specific patches of Tillandsia vegetation. In this study, we investigate the lipid biomarker composition of the bromeliad Tillandsia landbeckii (CAM plant) to assess structural adaptations at the molecular level as a response to extremely arid conditions. We analyzed long-chain n-alkanes and fatty acids in living specimens (n = 59) collected from the main Tillandsia dune ecosystems across a 350 km coastal transect. We found that the leaf wax composition was dominated by n-alkanes with concentrations (total average 160.8 ± 91.4 µg/g) up to three times higher than fatty acids (66.7 ± 40.7 µg/g), likely as an adaptation to the hyperarid environment. Significant differences were found in leaf wax distribution (Average Chain Length [ACL] and Carbon Preference Index [CPI]) in the northern zone relative to the central and southern zones. We found strong negative correlations between fatty acid CPI and n-alkane ACL with precipitation and surface evaporation pointing at fine-scale adaptations to low moisture availability along the coastal transect. Moreover, our data indicate that the predominance of n-alkanes is reflecting the function of the wax in preventing water loss from the leaves. The hyperarid conditions and good preservation potential of both n-alkanes and fatty acids make them ideal tracers to study late Holocene climate change in the Atacama Desert.

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Population genomics of Tillandsia landbeckii reveals unbalanced genetic diversity and founder effects in the Atacama Desert

Cited by 16 publications

References 41 publications

Quaternary diversification of a columnar cactus in the driest place on earth

Quaternary diversification of a columnar cactus in the driest place on earth

Vegetation growth and landscape genetics of Tillandsia lomas at their dry limits in the Atacama Desert show fine‐scale response to environmental parameters

Leaf wax composition and distribution of Tillandsia landbeckii reflects moisture gradient across the hyperarid Atacama Desert

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