Bedrock preferences matters in conservation genetics of Dianthus gratianopolitanus in Central Europe

Plant species from rocky outcrops are often highly endangered in Central Europe due to habitat loss and increasing fragmentation of the already scattered populations considered either as remnants of the species´ evolutionary history since postglacial times or historical land use changes. Often these species are characterized by adaptation either to siliceous or calcareous bedrock types. However, there are also species occurring on both substrates facing differing ecological and environmental conditions. In central Europe Cheddar Pink (Dianthus gratianopolitanus) is among those species facing spatio-temporal shifts of their environmental niches due to climate warming, habitat loss and barriers to geneflow and dispersal. We studied eleven metapopulations of D. gratianopolitanus from the calcareous and the siliceous range using nuclear AFLP data as well as plastid haplotypes. In addition, the ecological niches under the current climate and under future climate scenarios were predicted and the most influencal climate variables were analyzed. The genetic structure of inferred genotypes and genetic assignment indicate varying patterns of isolation in all populations. While both bedrock groups showed different levels of genetic connectivity, the siliceous populations indicated stronger within-population substructure accompanied with reduced genetic diversity. Niche modeling indicates differing climatic conditions and limitations for D. gratianopolitanus from calcareous and siliceous bedrock, with the southern and calcareous populations being affected by drought stress while the northern populations are limited by minimum temperatures. Predictions of the distribution range under relevant climate scenarios indicate a drastic reduction of suitable areas for both bedrock types until the end of the century. This account contains supplementary material to the study comprising the following information: Appendix A Figures A.1 to A.11 Genetic analysis of metapopulations and spatial documentation. Appendix B.1 Information Detailed description of metapopulations Table B.1. Accession table Fig. B.1. Bioclimatic variables and Pearson correlations Fig. B.2. Selected bioclim variables for ENM analyses Fig. B.3. Comparison of the most effective bioclim variables according to substrate type The S_III.1.*.* files contains the information for metapopulations on genetic data and analyses for all 11 metapopulations: (1) raw AFLP data as excel-file (2) Nexus input file for SplitsTree (3) SVG file illustrating genetic structure at different K (4) Results of optimal K analyses (graphs) (5) Results of Evano statistics