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Considering landscape connectivity and gene flow in the Anthropocene using complementary landscape genetics and habitat modelling approaches

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Abstract

Context

A comprehensive understanding of how rapidly changing environments affect species gene flow is critical for mitigating future biodiversity losses. While recent methodological developments in landscape ecology and genetics have greatly advanced our understanding of biodiversity conservation, they are rarely combined and applied in studies.

Objectives

We merged multifaceted landscape habitat modelling with genetics to detect and design biological corridors, and we evaluated the importance of habitat patches to test corridor efficacy for gene flow in a fragmented landscape. We examined an isolated population of an endangered umbrella species, the capercaillie (Tetrao urogallus), in the Western Carpathians; they have experienced habitat deterioration and accompanying population declines in recent decades.

Methods

To detect spatial patterns of genetic distances, we combined and optimized resistance surfaces using species distribution modelling, structural and functional connectivity analyses, multivariate regression approaches, and Moran’s eigenvector maps at hierarchical scales.

Results

Larger habitat patches had better gene flow among them, and we confirmed a broken metapopulation network characterised by a pattern of isolation by the environment. Distance to human settlements explained landscape genetic patterns better than other environmental and landscape features, MaxEnt resistance, Conefor resistance surfaces, and the pairwise Euclidean distances among individuals. The closer individuals were to settlements, the more pronounced were the effects of logging and other negative factors on their connectivity.

Conclusions

Merging multifaceted landscape habitat modelling with genetics can effectively test corridor efficacy for gene flow, and it represents a powerful tool for conservation of endangered species.

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Acknowledgements

The authors wish to express thanks to numerous colleagues who assisted us with sampling, in particular F. Zięba and P. Krzan from Tatra National Park (Zakopane, Poland), P. Armatys from Górce National Park (Niedźwiedź, Poland), and conservationists, foresters, and volunteers from Slovakia. We are grateful to G. Baloghová and D. Krajmerová for assistance in the laboratory. The work was financially supported by the VEGA - Scientific Grant Agency of the Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Sport of the Slovak Republic and Slovak Academy of Sciences [Grant Number 1/0303/12] and VEGA [Grant Number 2/0077/17]. M. Mikoláš was supported by the Czech University of Life Sciences, Prague (CIGA No. 20184304) and by the Institutional Project MSMT CZ.02.1.01/0.0/0.0/16_019/0000803. We are also grateful to Rob Morrissey (Branch Scientific Editing) for help with the language to strengthen our manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Forestry, Technical University in Zvolen, 96053, Zvolen, Slovakia

    Peter Klinga & Ladislav Paule

  2. Faculty of Forestry and Wood Sciences, Czech University of Life Sciences, Kamýcka cesta 1176, 165 21, Praha 6 – Suchdol, Czech Republic

    Martin Mikoláš & Martin Tejkal

  3. PRALES, Odtrnovie 563, 01322, Rosina, Slovakia

    Martin Mikoláš

  4. DIANA, Mládežnícka 47, 97404, Banská Bystrica, Slovakia

    Peter Smolko

  5. Department of Ecology and Genetics, Evolutionary Biology Centre, Uppsala University, Norbyvägen 18D, 75236, Uppsala, Sweden

    Jacob Höglund

  6. Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, T6G 2E9, Canada

    Peter Smolko

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  1. Peter Klinga
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Correspondence to Peter Klinga.

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Klinga, P., Mikoláš, M., Smolko, P. et al. Considering landscape connectivity and gene flow in the Anthropocene using complementary landscape genetics and habitat modelling approaches. Landscape Ecol 34, 521–536 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-019-00789-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-019-00789-9

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