Biogeography and evolution of endemic key species of high mountain vegetation in the South-eastern Alps

The Southeastern Alps are a biodiversity hotspot hosting also the highest proportion of endemic plants in the Eastern Alps. We investigated the evolutionary history of nine key plant species of alpine scree and rock vegetation endemic to the Southeastern Alps by sequencing large parts of their genomes. We infer how recurrent climatic changes have influenced the evolutionary history of these target species, how glacial cycles have generated unique evolutionary lineages, and how this unique genetic diversity has evolved and is distributed in time and space. Our results show that, depending on the respective ecology, key species of rock and scree vegetation found peripheral refugia in the southern and southeastern areas, showed patterns of nunatak, i.e. unglaciated mountain tops, survival or a combination thereof. Our results also allow the identification of evolutionarily unique populations and lineages within each species to inform conservation efforts.