Preferred habitat and effective population size drive landscape genetic patterns in an endangered species

Author:

Weckworth Byron V.123,Musiani Marco1,DeCesare Nicholas J.45,McDevitt Allan D.6,Hebblewhite Mark4,Mariani Stefano67

Affiliation:

1. Faculties of Environmental Design and Veterinary Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada T2N 1N4

2. College of Life Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, People's Republic of China

3. Panthera, New York, NY 10018, USA

4. Wildlife Biology Program, Department of Ecosystem and Conservation Sciences College of Forestry and Conservation, University of Montana, Missoula, MT 59812, USA

5. Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, 3201 Spurgin Road, Missoula, MT 59804, USA

6. School of Biology and Environmental Science, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4, Republic of Ireland

7. School of Environment and Life Sciences, University of Salford, Salford M5 4WT, UK

Abstract

Landscape genetics provides a framework for pinpointing environmental features that determine the important exchange of migrants among populations. These studies usually test the significance of environmental variables on gene flow, yet ignore one fundamental driver of genetic variation in small populations, effective population size, N e . We combined both approaches in evaluating genetic connectivity of a threatened ungulate, woodland caribou. We used least-cost paths to calculate matrices of resistance distance for landscape variables (preferred habitat, anthropogenic features and predation risk) and population-pairwise harmonic means of N e , and correlated them with genetic distances, F ST and D c . Results showed that spatial configuration of preferred habitat and N e were the two best predictors of genetic relationships. Additionally, controlling for the effect of N e increased the strength of correlations of environmental variables with genetic distance, highlighting the significant underlying effect of N e in modulating genetic drift and perceived spatial connectivity. We therefore have provided empirical support to emphasize preventing increased habitat loss and promoting population growth to ensure metapopulation viability.

Publisher

The Royal Society

Subject

General Agricultural and Biological Sciences,General Environmental Science,General Immunology and Microbiology,General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology,General Medicine

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