Lionel Nicolas Di Santo

• Doctor of Philosophy
• PostDoc Position at University of Basel

Tree species are often locally adapted to their environments, but the extent to which environmental adaptation contributes to incipient speciation is unclear. One of the rarest pines in the world, Torrey pine (Pinus torreyana Parry), persists naturally across one island and one mainland population in southern California. The two populations are mor...

13 Understanding the genomic mechanisms contributing to speciation requires studies of taxa that 14 are in the early stages of divergence, before complete reproductive isolation has evolved. One 15 of the rarest pines in the world, Torrey Pine (Pinus torreyana Parry), persists naturally across 16 one island and one mainland population in southern C...

Hybridization is recognized as an important evolutionary force, but identifying and timing admixture events between divergent lineages remain a major aim of evolutionary biology. While this has traditionally been done using inferential tools on contemporary genomes, the latest advances in paleogenomics have provided a growing wealth of temporally d...

Hybridization is recognized as an important evolutionary force, but identifying and timing admixture events between divergent lineages remains a major aim of evolutionary biology. While this has traditionally been done using inferential tools on contemporary genomes, the latest advances in paleogenomics have provided a growing wealth of temporally...

Understanding the contribution of neutral and adaptive evolutionary processes to population differentiation is often necessary for better informed management and conservation of rare species. In this study, we focused on Pinus torreyana Parry (Torrey pine), one of the world’s rarest pines, endemic to one island and one mainland population in Califo...

Understanding the within- and among-population distribution of trait variation within seed collections may provide a means to approximate standing genetic variation and inform plant conservation. This study aimed to estimate population- and family-level seed trait variability for existing seed collections of Torrey pine (Pinus torreyana), and to us...

Globally imperiled ecosystems often depend upon collection, propagation, and storage of seed material for use in restoration. However, during the restoration process demographic changes, population bottlenecks, and selection can alter the genetic composition of seed material, with potential impacts for restoration success. The evolutionary outcomes...

Understanding the contribution of neutral and adaptive evolutionary processes to population differences is often necessary for better informed management and conservation of rare species. In this study, we focused on Pinus torreyana Parry (Torrey pine), one of the world's rarest pines, endemic to one island and one mainland population in California...

Globally imperiled ecosystems often depend upon collection, propagation, and storage of seed material for use in restoration. However, during the restoration process demographic changes, population bottlenecks, and selection can alter the genetic composition of seed material, with potential impacts for restoration success. The evolutionary outcomes...

PREMISE Optimizing the amount of genetic diversity captured in seed collections is a long-standing objective of ex situ conservation. Particularly for rare species where limited genetic information is available, it poses a significant challenge. However, understanding the within and among population distribution of trait variation within seed colle...

Maintenance of biodiversity through seed banks and botanical gardens, where the wealth of species’ genetic variation may be preserved ex situ, is a major goal of conservation. However, challenges can persist in optimizing ex situ collections if trade‐offs exist among cost, effort, and conserving species evolutionary potential, particularly when gen...

Maintenance of biodiversity, through seed banks and botanical gardens where the wealth of species genetic variation may be preserved ex situ, is a major goal of conservation. However, challenges can persist in optimizing ex situ collections where trade-offs exist between expense, effort, and conserving species evolutionary potential, particularly w...

The genetic era has revolutionized our perception of biological invasions. Yet, it is usually too late to understand their genesis for efficient management. Here, we take the rare opportunity to reconstruct the scenario of an uprising invasion of the famous water frogs (Pelophylax) in southern France, through a fine-scale genetic survey. We identif...

Human introductions of exotic amphibians can have catastrophic effects on native species. However, they usually remain unnoticed without genetic tools when species are difficult to distinguish morphologically. In Western Europe, pool frogs (Pelophylax sp.) make a worrisome case: recent genetic data showed the presence of Italian (Pelophylax bergeri...