Format: ORAL

Jos Cerca1, Juan Ernesto Guevara Andino2, Gonzalo Rivas-Torres3,4, Michael D. Martin5

1 Centre for Ecological and Evolutionary Synthesis (CEES), Department of Biosciences, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway 2 Grupo de Investigación en Ecología y Evolución en los Trópicos-EETrop, Universidad de las Américas, Quito, Ecuador 3 Estación de Biodiversidad Tiputini, Colegio de Ciencias Biológicas y Ambientales, Universidad San Francisco de Quito (USFQ), Quito, Ecuador 4 Universidad San Francisco de Quito (USFQ), Calle Diego de Robles y Avenida Pampite, Cumbayá, Quito, Ecuador 5 Department of Natural History, NTNU University Museum, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Trondheim, Norway

Despite the constraints imposed by founder events, small population sizes, and inbreeding, some oceanic lineages exhibit an astonishing degree of ecological and phenotypic diversity. This intriguing paradox raises a fundamental question: how do isolated lineages generate and maintain genetic diversity? While de novo mutation, the traditional source of genetic variation, is widely considered too slow to account for the observed levels of ecological differentiation and divergence in these lineages, alternative mechanisms remain elusive. In this work, we explore the role of diverse genomic architectures in fostering genetic diversity. With a focus on the adaptive radiation of Scalesia, we investigate the contribution of transposable elements and polyploidization to the generation of genetic variation. Our findings reveal an even distribution of transposable elements across subgenomes and a lack of association between ecological niche, phylogeny, and transposable element accumulation. Collectively, these results suggest that transposable elements may not have played a significant role in shaping this adaptive radiation.