INTROGRESSION, GENETIC DIVERSITY AND STRUCTURE IN QUERCUS BICOLOR: COMPARING THE RANGE CORE AND SOUTHERN MARGIN

The genus Quercus, known for hybridization and long-distance pollination, offers an excellent model to examine spatial patterns of introgression, diversity, and structure across species distributions. Here, we investigate these dynamics in Quercus bicolor Willd., a widespread eastern North American oak. Using RADseq, we genotyped 142 individuals from 12 populations at the fragmented southern range edge and nine populations from the range core. To detect introgression, we incorporated reference data from six sympatric white oak species of the Quercus subsection Quercus clade.