Population genetic studies of adaptation of forest trees during their expansion after the last glacial maximum

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Laurel forests dominating pristine lowlands in western Japan are considered to have expanded their distribution from one or more refugia after the last glacial maximum. In this project, we investigated their evolution during and after the expansion by studying genetic structure of their representative species, Distylium racemosum, Cleyera japonica, and Zanthoxylum ailanthoides, along with Taxodium distichum that grows in wetlands of North America. We obtained some indications that the three laurel forest species, although growing in the same forest at present, had different population histories. Also we found a small number of candidate genes that might have contributed to the adaptation.