Data from: Resolving neutral and deterministic contributions to genomic structure in Syntrichia ruralis (Bryophyta, Pottiaceae) informs propagule sourcing for dryland restoration

Syntrichia ruralis is a cosmopolitan moss that occupies steep environmental gradients. In arid to semi-arid regions of the world it is a key component of biological soil crusts, which are fundamental to healthy dryland ecosystem processes. As such, S. ruralis has attracted the attention of conservationists seeking to restore degraded biological soil crust communities and their associated vascular flora. Here, we generate genomic data for S. ruralis populations that span climatic gradients across the Colorado Plateau of the southwestern USA to investigate the contributions of neutral and deterministic processes to the partitioning of genomic structure. Although S. ruralis appears to be highly dispersible, geographic proximity significantly predicts genomic similarity. In addition, even when taking into account apparently high migration rates among populations and spatial autocorrelation of allele frequencies, some genomic variation is explained by environmental gradients correlated with elevation and latitude. Consequently, efforts to restore dryland ecosystems by establishing S. ruralis as a foundation should include strategies to ensure that propagule sources of this moss are environmentally stratified and targeted to the current/future climates of restoration sites.

棕毛刷藓（Syntrichia ruralis）是一种广布全球的苔藓植物，可栖息于跨度极大的环境梯度中。在全球干旱至半干旱区域，它是生物土壤结皮（biological soil crusts）的关键组成部分，而生物土壤结皮是健康旱地生态系统过程的核心基础。正因如此，棕毛刷藓受到了众多保护学者的关注，他们致力于修复退化的生物土壤结皮群落及其伴生的维管植物区系。
本研究针对分布于美国西南部科罗拉多高原、横跨各类气候梯度的棕毛刷藓种群生成了基因组数据，旨在探究中性过程与确定性过程对基因组结构分化的贡献。尽管棕毛刷藓看似具备极强的扩散能力，但地理距离可显著预测种群间的基因组相似性。此外，即便在考虑种群间较高的基因流迁移率以及等位基因频率的空间自相关特征的前提下，仍有部分基因组变异可由与海拔和纬度相关的环境梯度所解释。
因此，通过引种棕毛刷藓作为奠基物种来修复旱地生态系统的相关工作，应配套相应策略以确保该苔藓的繁殖体来源具备环境分层特性，并匹配修复位点当前及未来的气候条件。