Conservation genomics of Wyethia reticulata (Asteraceae)

Wyethia reticulata is a rare perennial herb found only on gabbro-derived soils of the Pine Hill formation in the Sierra Nevada foothills of El Dorado County, California. Wyethia reticulata is capable of both vegetative (clonal) and sexual reproduction, although the former is thought to be more common than the latter, with sexual reproduction tied to fire. The potential dominance of vegetative reproduction has conservation implications for W. reticulata, as populations could appear healthy in terms of stand density, while losing genetic diversity due to a lack of sexual recruitment. Past genetic assessments of W. reticulata relied on low-resolution markers from a small number of populations and did not directly address conservation issues. Here, double-digest random amplified DNA sequencing was used to develop a high-resolution genomic dataset for a sample of 168 W. reticulata samples from seven locations that represent every known population center of the species. The data was used to 1...