Interspecies geneflow may have shaped microscale adaptation capacity in tillandsia lomas in hyperarid South American desert systems

We explored genetic data from a Tillandsia loma vegetation in Southern Peru with three sympatrically growing species (T. landbeckii, T. purpurea, T. capillaris) exemplifying inter-species gene flow crossing even ploidal levels. This mechanism highlights a strategy to evolve and adapt more rapidly to environmental changes in extreme arid and hyperarid habitats, and provides an opportunity for Tillandsia populations to conserve efficiently new genotypes via subsequent clonal propagation.