Determining the drivers of population structure in a highly urbanized landscape to inform conservation planning |
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| Authors: | Henri A Thomassen Kathleen Semple Delaney Seth P D Riley Laurel E K Serieys Katherine Pease Robert K Wayne Thomas B Smith |
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| Institution: | 1. Comparative Zoology, Institute for Evolution and Ecology, University of Tübingen, 72076 Tübingen, Germany;2. Center for Tropical Research, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095, U.S.A.Both the authors contributed equally.;3. Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, National Park Service, Thousand Oaks, CA 91360, U.S.A.;4. Biological Sciences, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch 7701, Cape Town, South Africa;5. The Urban Caracal Project, Cape Leopard Trust, Tokai, Cape Town, South Africa;6. Environmental Studies, Environmental Studies Department, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, U.S.A.;7. Heal the Bay, CA 90401, U.S.A.;8. Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095, U.S.A.;9. Center for Tropical Research, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095, U.S.A. |
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| Abstract: | Understanding the environmental contributors to population structure is of paramount importance for conservation in urbanized environments. We used spatially explicit models to determine genetic population structure under current and future environmental conditions across a highly fragmented, human‐dominated environment in Southern California to assess the effects of natural ecological variation and urbanization. We focused on 7 common species with diverse habitat requirements, home‐range sizes, and dispersal abilities. We quantified the relative roles of potential barriers, including natural environmental characteristics and an anthropogenic barrier created by a major highway, in shaping genetic variation. The ability to predict genetic variation in our models differed among species: 11–81% of intraspecific genetic variation was explained by environmental variables. Although an anthropogenically induced barrier (a major highway) severely restricted gene flow and movement at broad scales for some species, genetic variation seemed to be primarily driven by natural environmental heterogeneity at a local level. Our results show how assessing environmentally associated variation for multiple species under current and future climate conditions can help identify priority regions for maximizing population persistence under environmental change in urbanized regions. |
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| Keywords: | adaptive variation climate change conservation planning landscape genetics population genetics Santa Monica Mountains vertebrates cambio climá tico gené tica de paisajes gené tica poblacional Montañ as de Santa Mó nica variació n adaptativa vertebrados |
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