Patterns in the genetic structure of 49 lowland rain forest tree species co-distributed on opposite sides of the Northern Andes

The Andes are a major dispersal barrier for lowland rain forest plants and animals, yet hundreds of lowland tree species are distributed on both sides of the Northern Andes, raising questions about how the Andes influenced their biogeographic histories and population genetic structure. To explore these questions, we generated standardized datasets of thousands of SNPs from paired populations of 49 tree species co-distributed in rain forest tree communities located in Panama and Amazonian Ecuador and calculated genetic diversity (π) and absolute genetic divergence (dXY) within and between populations, respectively. We predicted (1) higher genetic diversity in the ancestral source region (east or west of the Andes) for each taxon, and (2) correlation of genetic statistics with species attributes, including elevational range and life-history strategy. We found that genetic diversity was higher in putative ancestral source regions, possibly reflecting founder events during colonization. We ..., The data consist of called genotypes of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) for 49 tropical rain forest tree species. Individuals were sampled from Yasuni, Ecuador and Barro Colorado Island (BCI), Panama, and sequenced using a double-digest Restriction-Associated DNA (ddRAD) approach. Data are presented as standard Variant Call Format (VCF) files., , # Patterns in the genetic structure of 49 lowland rain forest tree species co-distributed on opposite sides of the northern Andes

## Description of the data and file structure

The data consist of called genotypes of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) for 49 tropical rain forest tree species. Individuals were sampled from Yasuni, Ecuador and Barro Colorado Island (BCI), Panama, and sequenced using a double-digest Restriction-Associated DNA (ddRAD) approach. Data are presented as standard Variant Call Format (VCF) files.

Each VCF file contains genotype data for a single species from two populations (Ecuador and Panama). The VCF files are named as XXXXXX.vcf, where XXXXXX is a six-character code for each species. Species codes are provided at the end of this document.

Within the VCF file, the individual samples (listed at the end of the header lines beginning with #) are named as XXXXXX_YY_ZZZ where:

* XXXXXX is the six-character species code
* YY is one of [EC, PA], denotin...