Phylogeography of Potentilla fruticosa,an alpine shrub on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau

Aims Our objectives were (i) to elucidate the phylogeography of chloroplast DNA (cpDNA) in Potentilla fruticosa in relation to Quaternary climate change and postglacial colonization, (ii) to infer historical population range expansion using mismatch distribution analyses and (iii) to locate the refugia of this alpine species on the Qinghai-Tibetan plateau during glacial–interglacial periods.Methods Potentilla fruticosa is a widespread species distributed on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. We sampled leaves of P. fruticosa from 10 locations along a route of ~1?300 km from the northeastern plateau (Haibei, Qinghai) to the southern plateau (Dangxiong, Tibet). We examined the cpDNA of 15 haplotypes for 87 individuals from the 10 populations based on the sequence data from ~1?000 base pairs of the trnS–trnG and rpl20–rps12. Phylogenetic relationship of haplotypes was analyzed using the Phylip software package and the program TCS. The diversity of populations indices was obtained using the program ARLEQUIN.Important findings With the limited samples, we found that (i) higher nucleotide diversity often occurs in high-altitude populations, (ii) the ancestral haplotypes distribute in the populations with higher nucleotide diversity than recent haplotypes, (iii) the expansion time of population in the high altitudes was estimated to be approximately at 52–25 ka BP (1000 years Before Present, where “Present” is AD 1950) and that in the low altitudes to be ~5.1–2.5 ka BP and (iv) the source location of P. fruticosa is at the high altitudes, which might provide refugia for the species during the interglacial warm periods. The species expanded from the high-elevated locations on the Tanggula Mountains during the Holocene.