Data from: Comparative genetic and demographic responses to climate change in three peatland butterflies in the Jura massif

Climate is a main driver of species distributions, but all species are not
equally affected by climate change, and the differential responses of
species to similar climatic constraints might dramatically affect the
local species composition. In the context of climate warming, a better
knowledge of the ability of dispersal-limited and habitat specialist
species to track climate change at local scale is urgently needed.
Comparing the population genetic and demographic impacts of past climate
cycles in multiple co-distributed species with similar ecological
requirements can help predicting their future response to climate warming,
but such comparative studies remain rare. Here, we studied the
relationship between population demographic history and past changes in
spatial distribution of three protected peatbog butterfly species (Boloria
aquilonaris, Coenonympha tullia, Lycaena helle) in the Jura massif
(France), using a genomic approach (ddRAD sequencing) and species
distribution modeling (SDM). We found that the three species have a
similar and narrow thermal niche, and share a common demographic history
of recent post-glacial decline and fragmentation of populations. Each
species functions as a single metapopulation more or less structured at
the regional scale, with a North-South gradient of decreasing genetic
diversity that fits the local dynamics of the ice cover overtime. However,
we found no correlation between changes in the quantity or the quality of
suitable areas and effective population size over time, suggesting that
species ranges moved beyond the Jura massif during the less favorable
climatic periods, and that other factors than climate are at play in the
dramatic decline currently observed in the three species.