Genomic signatures of local adaptation in marram grass highlight the importance of provenance in dune restoration

Calamagrostis arenaria shows widespread local adaptation, with outlying genomic regions enriched for stress- and nutrient-related genes in northern European populations.

• Why it matters: Coastal dunes rely on marram grass for stabilization, yet genomic evidence for coastal colonization, local adaptation, and restoration-driven genetic change has been limited.
• What they did: The study built a chromosome-scale reference genome and used ddRAD-Seq on over 200 individuals from 10 European populations to test differentiation, then scanned northern individuals for local-adaptation outliers.
• The result: Northern–southern differentiation matches recognized subspecies, isolation-by-distance shapes northern structure, non-local planting in a restored Swedish dune shows reduced diversity, and outliers suggest selection on nutrient deficiency, drought, pathogen defence, and lignin/culm strength.

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