Local Adaptation and Climate Change Vulnerability of the Relict Tree Species Taiwania cryptomerioides Provide Insights Into Its Conservation and Restoration

ABSTRACT Rapid climate change is affecting biodiversity and threatening locally adapted species. Relict species are often confined to relatively narrow, discontinuous geographic ranges and provide excellent opportunities to study local adaptation and extinction. Understanding the adaptive genetic va...

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Main Authors: Yang Lu, Hao Dong, Saibin Fan, Lu Yuan, Yuhui Wang, Zhuang Zhao, Yong Lai, Shixin Zhu, Jinyong Huang, Caipeng Yue, Yongpeng Ma, Ningning Zhang
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Wiley 2025-05-01
Series:Evolutionary Applications
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Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1111/eva.70113
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author Yang Lu
Hao Dong
Saibin Fan
Lu Yuan
Yuhui Wang
Zhuang Zhao
Yong Lai
Shixin Zhu
Jinyong Huang
Caipeng Yue
Yongpeng Ma
Ningning Zhang
author_facet Yang Lu
Hao Dong
Saibin Fan
Lu Yuan
Yuhui Wang
Zhuang Zhao
Yong Lai
Shixin Zhu
Jinyong Huang
Caipeng Yue
Yongpeng Ma
Ningning Zhang
author_sort Yang Lu
collection DOAJ
description ABSTRACT Rapid climate change is affecting biodiversity and threatening locally adapted species. Relict species are often confined to relatively narrow, discontinuous geographic ranges and provide excellent opportunities to study local adaptation and extinction. Understanding the adaptive genetic variation and genetic vulnerability of relict species under climate change is essential for their conservation and management efforts. Here, we applied a landscape genomics approach to investigate the population genetic structure and predict adaptive capacity to climatic change for Taiwania cryptomerioides Hayata, a vulnerable Tertiary relict tree species in China. We used restriction site‐associated DNA sequencing on 122 individuals across 10 sampling sites. We found three genetic groups across the Chinese range of T. cryptomerioides: the southwest, central‐eastern, and Taiwanese groups. We detected significant signals of isolation by environment and isolation by distance, with environment playing a more important role than geography in shaping spatial genetic variation in T. cryptomerioides. Moreover, some outliers were related to defense and stress responses, which could reflect the genomic basis of adaptation. Gradient forest (GF) analysis revealed that precipitation‐related variables were important in driving adaptive variation in T. cryptomerioides. Ecological niche modeling and GF analysis revealed that the central‐eastern populations were more vulnerable to future climate change than other populations, with range contractions and high genetic offsets, suggesting these populations may be at higher risk of decline or local extinction. These findings deepen our understanding of local adaptation and vulnerability to climate change in relict tree species and will guide conservation and restoration programs for T. cryptomerioides in the future.
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spelling doaj-art-2f281d3b90c744609fdf37b7a3adba8c2025-08-20T01:56:51ZengWileyEvolutionary Applications1752-45712025-05-01185n/an/a10.1111/eva.70113Local Adaptation and Climate Change Vulnerability of the Relict Tree Species Taiwania cryptomerioides Provide Insights Into Its Conservation and RestorationYang Lu0Hao Dong1Saibin Fan2Lu Yuan3Yuhui Wang4Zhuang Zhao5Yong Lai6Shixin Zhu7Jinyong Huang8Caipeng Yue9Yongpeng Ma10Ningning Zhang11School of Life Sciences Zhengzhou University Zhengzhou ChinaSchool of Agricultural Sciences Zhengzhou University Zhengzhou ChinaSchool of Agricultural Sciences Zhengzhou University Zhengzhou ChinaSchool of Agricultural Sciences Zhengzhou University Zhengzhou ChinaSchool of Agricultural Sciences Zhengzhou University Zhengzhou ChinaSchool of Agricultural Sciences Zhengzhou University Zhengzhou ChinaSchool of Life Sciences Zhengzhou University Zhengzhou ChinaSchool of Life Sciences Zhengzhou University Zhengzhou ChinaSchool of Life Sciences Zhengzhou University Zhengzhou ChinaSchool of Life Sciences Zhengzhou University Zhengzhou ChinaYunnan Key Laboratory for Integrative Conservation of Plant Species With Extremely Small Populations Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences Kunming ChinaSchool of Life Sciences Zhengzhou University Zhengzhou ChinaABSTRACT Rapid climate change is affecting biodiversity and threatening locally adapted species. Relict species are often confined to relatively narrow, discontinuous geographic ranges and provide excellent opportunities to study local adaptation and extinction. Understanding the adaptive genetic variation and genetic vulnerability of relict species under climate change is essential for their conservation and management efforts. Here, we applied a landscape genomics approach to investigate the population genetic structure and predict adaptive capacity to climatic change for Taiwania cryptomerioides Hayata, a vulnerable Tertiary relict tree species in China. We used restriction site‐associated DNA sequencing on 122 individuals across 10 sampling sites. We found three genetic groups across the Chinese range of T. cryptomerioides: the southwest, central‐eastern, and Taiwanese groups. We detected significant signals of isolation by environment and isolation by distance, with environment playing a more important role than geography in shaping spatial genetic variation in T. cryptomerioides. Moreover, some outliers were related to defense and stress responses, which could reflect the genomic basis of adaptation. Gradient forest (GF) analysis revealed that precipitation‐related variables were important in driving adaptive variation in T. cryptomerioides. Ecological niche modeling and GF analysis revealed that the central‐eastern populations were more vulnerable to future climate change than other populations, with range contractions and high genetic offsets, suggesting these populations may be at higher risk of decline or local extinction. These findings deepen our understanding of local adaptation and vulnerability to climate change in relict tree species and will guide conservation and restoration programs for T. cryptomerioides in the future.https://doi.org/10.1111/eva.70113climate changegenetic diversitygenetic vulnerabilitylocal adaptationrelict species
spellingShingle Yang Lu
Hao Dong
Saibin Fan
Lu Yuan
Yuhui Wang
Zhuang Zhao
Yong Lai
Shixin Zhu
Jinyong Huang
Caipeng Yue
Yongpeng Ma
Ningning Zhang
Local Adaptation and Climate Change Vulnerability of the Relict Tree Species Taiwania cryptomerioides Provide Insights Into Its Conservation and Restoration
Evolutionary Applications
climate change
genetic diversity
genetic vulnerability
local adaptation
relict species
title Local Adaptation and Climate Change Vulnerability of the Relict Tree Species Taiwania cryptomerioides Provide Insights Into Its Conservation and Restoration
title_full Local Adaptation and Climate Change Vulnerability of the Relict Tree Species Taiwania cryptomerioides Provide Insights Into Its Conservation and Restoration
title_fullStr Local Adaptation and Climate Change Vulnerability of the Relict Tree Species Taiwania cryptomerioides Provide Insights Into Its Conservation and Restoration
title_full_unstemmed Local Adaptation and Climate Change Vulnerability of the Relict Tree Species Taiwania cryptomerioides Provide Insights Into Its Conservation and Restoration
title_short Local Adaptation and Climate Change Vulnerability of the Relict Tree Species Taiwania cryptomerioides Provide Insights Into Its Conservation and Restoration
title_sort local adaptation and climate change vulnerability of the relict tree species taiwania cryptomerioides provide insights into its conservation and restoration
topic climate change
genetic diversity
genetic vulnerability
local adaptation
relict species
url https://doi.org/10.1111/eva.70113
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