Format: ORAL

Jaime Fagndez 1,2, Ivn Rodrguez-Bujn 2, Pilar Daz-Tapia 1,3

1 Universidade da Coruña, BIOCOST research group, Centro Interdisciplinar de Química e Bioloxía (CICA), Rúa As Carballeiras, 15071, A Coruña, Spain 2 Universidade da Coruña, Departamento de Bioloxía, Facultade de Ciencias, 15071, A Coruña, Spain 3 Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, Departamento de Botánica, Santiago de Compostela, Spain

Erica tetralix, E. ciliaris, E. mackayana and E. andevalensis form a robust clade within the heathers (Erica L.) of the northern hemisphere. They share a number of traits such as their low size, the pluricellular glandular trichomes, and their ecological niche of permanently wet conditions. However, they cover different geographic areas, ranging from the widespread North Atlantic E. tetralix, to the narrowly endemic E. andevalensis of South western Iberia. Moreover, hybridisation occurs in northern areas between E. tetralix and E. ciliaris or E. mackayana, but not in overlapping southern populations. Here we present a dataset of over 400 plants obtained from the distribution range of the four species. Most samples have been analysed by means of genetic analyses using SNPs (nextRAD sequencing). Furthermore, we conducted measurements on an array of morphological traits, encompassing macro and micromorphological traits, including reproductive and vegetative characters. In this talk, we present the first results on the biogeography, phylogenetic relationships and morphological variation at the species, population and individual level including i) The biogeography of E. mackayana, which shows a clear pattern of recent multiple introduction events for the Irish populations from northern Spain, ii) both genetics and morphology support the species taxonomic level of E. andevalensis, and iii) the hybrids of E. tetralix and E. mackayana or E. ciliaris are intermediate in their morphology and genotype, and are produced only in certain regions. Results from this model group can aid in the interpretation of evolutionary and biogeographic patterns such as the northern recolonization by plants from southern refuges after the ice age.