Hibiscus nextRAD-seq conservation genomics

The Neches River Rose Mallow (Hibiscus dasycalyx) is a rare wildflower endemic to Texas that is federally protected in the US. While previous work suggests that H. dasycalyx may be hybridizing with its widespread congeners, the Halberd-leaved Rose Mallow (H. laevis) and the Wolly Rose Mallow (H. moscheutos), this has not been studied in detail. We evaluated the relative threats to H. dasycalyx posed by hybridization with H. laevis and H. moscheutos by 1) examining their relatedness to one another via modern phylogenomic methods, 2) examining the species’ ecological (dis)similarities to one another using ecological niche modeling, and 3) looking for genomic evidence of hybridization among the three species. Our results suggest that H. dasycalyx is very closely related and ecologically similar to H. laevis, and suggest that H. laevis is interbreeding with H. dasycalyx in the wild. Conversely, H. moscheutos appears to be more distantly related to H. dasycalyx and more ecologically dissimil...