Document Type

Article

Publication Date

6-2015

Keywords

Population connectivity, GENELAND, Circuit theory, Causal modeling, Oreamnos americanus

Abstract

Habitat fragmentation and habitat loss diminish population connectivity, reducing genetic diversity and increasing extinction risk over time. Improving connectivity is widely recommended to preserve the long-term viability of populations, but this requires accurate knowledge of how landscapes influence connectivity. Detectability of landscape effects on gene flow is highly dependent on landscape context, and drawing conclusions from single landscape studies may lead to ineffective management strategies. We present a novel approach to elucidate regional variation in the relative importance of landscape variable effects on gene flow. We demonstrate this approach by evaluating gene flow between isolated, genetically impoverished mountain goat (Oreamnos americanus) populations in Washington and much larger, genetically robust populations in southern British Columbia. We used GENELAND to identify steep genetic gradients and then employed individual-based landscape genetics in a causal modeling framework to independently evaluate landscape variables that may be generating each of these genetic gradients. Our results support previous findings that freeways, highways, water, agriculture and urban landcover limit gene flow in this species. Additionally, we found that a previously unsupported landscape variable, distance to escape terrain, also limits gene flow in some contexts. By integrating GENELAND and individual-based methods we effectively identified regional limiting factors that have landscape-level implications for population viability.

Publication Title

Conservation Genetics

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1007/s10592-015-0732-2

Required Publisher's Statement

This is an Author's Final Manuscript, the final publication is available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10592-015-0732-2.

© Springer International Publishing AG, Part of Springer Science+Business Media

Subjects - Topical (LCSH)

Mountain goat--Speciation--Washington (State); Mountain goat--Speciation--British Columbia; Mountain goat--Variation--Washington (State); Mountain goat--Variation--British Columbia; Frangmented landscapes--Environmental aspects--Washington (State); Frangmented landscapes--Environmental aspects--British Columbia

Geographic Coverage

washington (State); British Columbia

Genre/Form

articles

Type

Text

Language

English

Format

application/pdf

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