Phylogeography of a widespread eastern North American shrub, Viburnum lantanoides

There have been relatively few phylogeographic studies of eastern North American plants, especially of animal-dispersed shrubby species, and this leaves a significant gap in our understanding of how such species were affected by glacial events. Here, we analyzed the phylogeography of the widespread understory shrub Viburnum lantanoides.

We generated RADseq data and paleoclimatic species distribution models (SDMs) to identify the locations of refugia where V. lantanoides may have survived the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) and how its range expanded as glaciers receded.

Genetic diversity falls off with increasing latitude and longitude, indicating that range expansion likely occurred via serial founder events from southern source populations. Samples from the southern Appalachians form a grade, while those from the north form a clade, suggesting that a single genetic lineage recolonized the north. SDMs indicate that V. lantanoides probably survived the LGM in refugia on the mid-Atlantic Coastal Plain and/or the interior Gulf Coastal Plain.

Our analyses indicate that V. lantanoides survived the LGM in refugia south of the glacier but north of the extensive refugium along the Gulf Coast. Following the LGM, a single population expanded northward along the Appalachian Mountains and eventually into eastern Canada. The patterns observed here suggest that range expansion occurred in a stepwise manner, similar to postglacial dynamics observed in a number of European plant species.