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Combining demography and genetic analysis to assess the population structure of an amphibian in a human-dominated landscape

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Abstract

In this article, we applied demographic and genetic approaches to assess how landscape features influence dispersal patterns and genetic structure of the common frog Rana temporaria in a landscape where anthropogenic perturbations are pervasive (urbanization and roads). We used a combination of GIS methods that integrate radiotracking and landscape configuration data, and simulation techniques in order to estimate the potential dispersal area around breeding patches. Additionally, genetic data provided indirect measures of dispersal and allowed to characterise the spatial genetic structure of ponds and the patterns of gene flow across the landscape. Although demographic simulations predicted six distinct groups of habitat patches within which movement can occur, genetic analyses suggested a different configuration. More precisely, BAPS5 spatial clustering method with ponds as the analysis unit detected five spatial clusters. Individual-based analyses were not able to detect significant genetic structure. We argue that (1) taking into account that each individual breeds in specific breeding patch allowed for better explanation of population functioning, (2) the discrepancy between direct (radiotracking) and indirect (genetic) estimates of subpopulations (breeding patches) is due to a recent landscape fragmentation (e.g. traffic increase). We discuss the future of this population in the face of increasing landscape fragmentation, focusing on the need for combining demographic and genetic approaches when evaluating the conservation status of population subjected to rapid landscape changes.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Jean-Noël Avrillier for technical assistance with GIS and figure drawing and Régis Martin for help with field study (radiotracking). We also thank Francesco Ficetola and Alice Valentini for helpful comments on a previous draft of the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratoire d’Ecologie Alpine, CNRS UMR 5553, Université Joseph Fourier, BP 53, 38041, Grenoble Cedex 9, France

    Toni Safner, Oscar Gaggiotti, Samuel Decout, Delphine Rioux, Stéphanie Zundel & Stéphanie Manel

  2. Laboratoire d’Ecologie Alpine, CNRS UMR 5553, Université de Savoie, 73376, Le Bourget du Lac Cedex, France

    Claude Miaud

  3. Department of Plant Breeding, Genetics and Biometrics, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Zagreb, Svetosimunska 25, 10000, Zagreb, Croatia

    Toni Safner

  4. Laboratoire Population Environnement Développement, UMR 151 UP/IRD, Université de Provence, 13331, Marseille Cedex 03, France

    Stéphanie Manel

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  1. Toni Safner
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  2. Claude Miaud
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  3. Oscar Gaggiotti
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Correspondence to Stéphanie Manel.

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Safner, T., Miaud, C., Gaggiotti, O. et al. Combining demography and genetic analysis to assess the population structure of an amphibian in a human-dominated landscape. Conserv Genet 12, 161–173 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10592-010-0129-1

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