When ecological marginality is not geographically peripheral: exploring genetic predictions of the centre-periphery hypothesis in the endemic plant Lilium pomponium.

We found little evidence for concordance between genetic variation and both geographical and environmental gradients. Although the prediction of increased differentiation at range limits is met, genetic diversity does not decrease towards the geographical periphery. Increased differentiation among peripheral populations, that are not ecologically marginal, may be explained by a decrease in habitat availability that reduces population connectivity. In contrast, a decrease of genetic diversity along environmental but not geographical gradients may be due to the presence of low quality habitats in the different parts of the range of a species that reduce effective population size or increase environmental constraints. As a result, environmental factors may affect population dynamics irrespective of distance from the geographical center of the range. In such situations of discordance between geographical and environmental gradients, the predictions of decreasing genetic diversity and increasing differentiation toward the geographical periphery may not be respected.