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Hybridization as a threat in climate relict Nuphar pumila (Nymphaeaceae)

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Abstract

Field studies and conceptual work on hybridization-mediated extinction risk in climate relicts are extremely rare. Nuphar pumila (Nymphaeaceae) is one of the most emblematic climate relicts in Europe with few isolated populations in the Alpine arc. The extent of introgression with related lowland and generalist species Nuphar lutea has never been studied using molecular methods. All biogeographical regions where N. pumila naturally occurs in the neighbourhood of the Alpine arc were sampled and studied using nuclear microsatellite markers. Furthermore, we used forward-in-time simulations and Approximate Bayesian Computation to check whether an introgression scenario fits with the observed admixture patterns and estimated the demographic parameters associated with this process. Our study confirms ongoing hybridization between N. pumila and N. lutea and validates it by the use of population models. More than 40 % of investigated N. pumila individuals were admixed and hybrids were found in over 60 % of studied populations. The introgression is bidirectional and is most likely a result of very recent gene flow. Our work provides strong evidence for rapid extinction risk and demographic swamping between specialized climatic relicts and closely related generalists. The remaining pure populations of N. pumila are rare in the Alpine arc and deserve high conservation priority.

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful to the following persons and institutions for their precious help, collaboration and/or issue of permissions: Switzerland—Botanic Gardens of St-Gall, Zürich, Geneva, Lausanne and Fribourg; B. Clément and E. Kozlowski, Botanic Garden of the University of Fribourg; M. Achermann and F. Cheda, Service de la Nature et du paysage de l’Etat de Fribourg; A. Keel, Amt für Landschaft- und Naturschutz, Kanton Zürich; G. Ackermann, Amt für Natur Jagd und Fischerei, Abteilung Natur und Landschaft, Kanton Sankt Gallen; R. Züllig, Gemeindepräsident Gemeinde Wildhaus-Alt Sankt Johann; C. Huber, UNA, Bern; R. Heeb and Ch. Peisker, Kantonsschule Wattwil; L. Champoud and V. Kam, Collège du Sud, La Frasse; F. Genoud, Auberge du Lac des Joncs, Les Paccots; Coordination régionale pour la protection de la flore (FR-GE-NE-VD); S. Eggenberg, Info Flora; D. Vogt, Bern. France—E. Brugel, Conservatoire botanique national de Franche-Comté; S. Daucourt, Direction Régionale de l’Environnement, de l’Aménagement et du Logement de Franche-Comté (DREAL); A. David, Office National de l’Eau et des Milieux Aquatiques (ONEMA); A. Piot, Hôtel et lac de l’Abbaye, Grande-Rivière; owners of the pond Bachetey, Haute-Saône. Austria—M. Messner, Bezirkshauptmannschaft Reutte; municipalities of Grän and Nesselwängle, Tirol. Germany—G. Riegel, Regierungsbezirk Schwaben; K. Neugebauer, Regierungsbezirk Oberbayern; H. Lampartner, Regierungspräsidium Tübingen; B. Schmidt, Landratsamt Ravensburg; U. Weiland, Zweckverband Allgäuer Moorallianz; S. Socher, Bayerischen Landesamt für Umwelt in Augsburg; Naturpark Südschwarzwald; S. Rossiwal, Regierung von Oberbayern, U. Grabner, Starnberg; J. Kunsler, Bad Endorf; NSG Eggstätt-Hemhofer Seenplatte; B. Zimmermann, Regierungspräsidium Freiburg. We thank the Natural History Museum Fribourg (Switzerland) and the Fonds de recherche of the University of Fribourg (Switzerland, project number 516) for their logistic and financial support. N.A. is funded by an SNSF Ambizione research grant (PZ00P3_148224). We thank also two anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments, which helped us to improve the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Lausanne, Biophore Building, 1015, Lausanne, Switzerland

    Nils Arrigo & Julia Bilat

  2. Natural History Museum of Fribourg, Chemin du Musée 6, 1700, Fribourg, Switzerland

    Sébastien Bétrisey, Emanuel Gerber & Gregor Kozlowski

  3. Department of Biology and Botanical Garden, University of Fribourg, Chemin du Musée 10, 1700, Fribourg, Switzerland

    Sébastien Bétrisey & Gregor Kozlowski

  4. Kantonsschule Wattwil, Näppisuelistrasse 11, 9630, Wattwil, Switzerland

    Larissa Graf

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  1. Nils Arrigo
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Correspondence to Gregor Kozlowski.

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Communicated by Kevin Edwards.

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Arrigo, N., Bétrisey, S., Graf, L. et al. Hybridization as a threat in climate relict Nuphar pumila (Nymphaeaceae). Biodivers Conserv 25, 1863–1877 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-016-1165-z

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