Exploring the Connection Between Climatic Conditions and Genetic Properties of Abies Alba Mill., Including Warm and Summer-Dry Mediterranean Environments

Abies alba Mill. is a prominent European tree species predominantly inhabiting cool and humid montane environments. However, paleoecological evidence reveals that during the Eemian and mid-Holocene, A. alba thrived in much warmer and drier climates. This capacity is nowadays reflected in cryptic meso- and sub-Mediterranean lowland populations. To link A. alba populations across diverse climates spanning from the Mediterranean lowlands to the Alpine timberline, we genotyped 421 specimens from Italy and Switzerland at 190 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). Population genetic structure analyses indicate that isolated meso- and sub-Mediterranean lowland populations in Tuscany and Ticino align genetically with higher elevation populations in each region, suggesting that their capacity to thrive in warmer, drier conditions cannot be attributed to plantations with planting stock originating from different climates or to the occurrence of a single warm-adapted lineage showing a disjunct distribution, unless migration between Tuscany and Ticino stands occurred. Genotype-environment associations reveal that temperature seasonality, precipitation during critical seasons, and relative humidity are important for explaining the species' genetic variation. With genotype-environment and genotype-phenotype associations, we identified candidate adaptive genes potentially linked to climatic conditions and drought response. While certain adaptive alleles may have spread from Tuscany and Southern Italy or could be explained by a shared ancestry of Ticino and Tuscan populations, local adaptation may have occurred at specific loci. These findings underscore the importance of considering the hitherto overlooked lowland Mediterranean populations of A. alba to better understand the species' climatic niche and its potential for forest conservation and management under global warming.