Abstract
Human activities have a major impact on habitat connectivity and landscape structure. In this context, it is critical to better understand animal movements and gene flow to develop appropriate conservation and land management measures. It is also important to better understand difference between sexes in space use and spatial scale of dispersal. We studied the common adder (Vipera berus), an elusive snake species with low mobility that is facing a substantial decline in Europe. A systematic sampling was carried out to clarify the dispersal pattern at a fine spatial scale (10 × 7 km2) in a rural landscape with both semi-natural (preserved heathlands, hedgerow networks) and degraded (crops, roads) habitats. Based on 280 captured adults and using 11 microsatellite markers, we detected no marked genetic differentiation, however, we detected relatively strong isolation-by-distance (IBD). Under IBD, we quantified a low neighborhood size (Ns ≈ 50) associated with limited natal dispersal (σ ≤ 1 km). We detected sex-biased dispersal in favor of males, but the pattern was dependent on the spatial scale considered. Our results also suggest that there is higher genetic diversity in the preserved habitat, notably among males. Overall, our study underlines the importance of sex variation in dispersal, and the spatial scale of landscape effects. This contrast between sexes should be considered to improve functional connectivity at fine spatial scales for reptile conservation.
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Data availability
Data are stored in the file named “INPUT_R_Data” in.csv format with semicolon separator. These data were used to create the file named “INPUT_GENEALEX” in.xlsx format. Its “export data” function was used to generate the other software input files. Depending on the software, inputs files are stored according to “INPUT_ SOFTWARE” in.txt format with tabulation for Spagedi, in.txt format with space for Structure and in.dat or.lab format for Fstat. Euclidean distances between individuals are stored in the files named “OUTPUT_Arcgis” in.csv format with semicolon separator. The datasets generated during and/or analysed during the current study are not publicly available due to threats to the species (e.g. disturbance or destruction of habitats or individuals) and its protection status in Brittany, but are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
Code availability
The R code is stored in the “R_script_Francois_et_al” in.Rmd format but is only available from the corresponding author on reasonable request (see above).
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Acknowledgements
This work was funded by the Ministère de l’Enseignement Supérieur et de la Recherche (Ph.D grant to DF) and the Service du Patrimoine Naturel du Département d’Ille-et-Vilaine which manages the Natura 2000 site of “Vallée du Canut” as an “Espace Naturel Sensible” (ENS). We address special thanks to all the field workers: Régis Morel (Chargé de mission Bretagne-Vivante), Manon Vasseur, Mélaine Rouault, Morgan Le Vot and Maxime Spagnol. We thank Valerie Zwahlen (laboratory technician) for carrying out the genetic analyses at the University of Basel. We also thank Juan José Robledo-Arnuncio and Jérôme Prunier for advice about statistics. Finally, we thank Jean-Pierre Vacher, Sydney Hope and the two anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments on the manuscript.
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This work was financially supported by the Ministère de l’Enseignement supérieur et de la recherche (Ph.D grant to DF) and the Service du patrimoine naturel du Département d’Ille-et-Vilaine which manages the Natura 2000 site of “Vallée du Canut” as an “Espace naturel sensible” (ENS).
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DF and FY applied for grants for the project. DF designed the experiments with the help of SU and OL. DF and OL participated to field work and enhanced its implementation. SU supervised the laboratory work. DF and SU analysed the data. DF wrote most of the manuscript. AB, DF, FY, OL and SU discussed the results, the analyses, and commented or modified the manuscript.
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François, D., Ursenbacher, S., Boissinot, A. et al. Isolation-by-distance and male-biased dispersal at a fine spatial scale: a study of the common European adder (Vipera berus) in a rural landscape. Conserv Genet 22, 823–837 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10592-021-01365-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10592-021-01365-y