ABSTRACT
Androsace cantabrica (Losa & P. Monts.) Kress is a narrow endemic polyploid restricted tofew northern Iberian mountains, potentially threatened by global warming and human activities. However, A. cantabrica is taxonomically not accepted and is considered a synonym of A. adfinis. We investigated six A. cantabrica populations, which cover its entire distribution range, together with related taxa and used Angiosperms353 target capture sequence data at two scales: (1) applying phylogenomic approaches to resolve species-level taxonomic conflicts and (2) conducting population genomic analysis to provide conservation recommendations.
We optimized the use of  the universal Angiosperms353 target capture bait set in conservation genetics  for the first time, demonstrating its versatility in being resolutive at  phylogenetic and population genetics scales. Based on nuclear and plastid data, phylogenetic results resolved A. cantabrica as an independent clade from A. adfinis, thus supporting it as a distinct speciesPhylogenetic incongruence between plastid and nuclear data sheds new light on the origin of A. cantabrica, sister to A. adfinis with plastid sequence data and sister to a clade formed by A. pyrenaica,  A. laggeriA. halleri and A. rioxana using nuclear genes. Intronic regions were used to call SNPs and calculate population genetics parameters. Population genetic structure results divide the six populations into two conservation management units with a clear geographic separation (east and west) although low genetic differentiation (FST = 0.05) between them. We estimated the distribution range, population size and threats of A. cantabrica and, under the IUCN Red List criteria B1ab(ii,iii) + 2ab(ii,iii), classified it as Vulnerable (VU). We recommend translocations for the western genetic group due to its lower genetic diversity (HE = 0.143) to increase effective population size and habitat threat management for the eastern genetic group (HE = 0.184). We conducted ex-situ conservation collected and identified a potential micro-reserve.
Keywords: alpine ecosystem, Angiosperms353, conservation genetics, global warming, phylogenomics, population genomics, threatened species.