Phylogeographic patterns of the Australian grass trees (Xanthorrhoea Asphodelaceae) shown using targeted amplicon sequencing

Abstract

Despite the prevalence of sclerophyllous vegetation in Australia, there are few phylogeographic studies with continent-wide sampling addressing questions about the expansion of this vegetation post-aridification, and what physical barriers are associated with breaks in distribution or patterns of genetic structure. We used amplicon sequencing of plastid and nuclear DNA to investigate phylogeography of Xanthorrhoea. Despite extremely low genetic variation and widespread sharing of identical DNA sequence among multiple species and across significant geographic distance, haplotype analyses showed phylogeographic structure. Network analysis of six plastid loci and 137 samples identified 54 haplo..