Discussion
Extrapolating genotype-environment association analyses to all possible combinations of alleles at a few outlier loci (i.e. supposed to be locally adaptive) allowed us to explore how much environmental diversity could be exploited by a given amount of genetic variation. This, in turn, revealed an adaptability threshold that might be ultimately defining the distribution boundaries of P. algirus . Thus, our successful inference of a species’ range (77.46% of the actual species’ range) from the geographical distribution of a few adaptive loci (N=4) uncovered the role of genotypic inter-individual variation in shaping a species’ distribution range. Our approach should therefore provide compelling evidence of how the genetic dynamics of local adaptation underlie distribution patterns.