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Landscape resistance and American marten gene flow

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Abstract

Landscape heterogeneity can influence animal dispersal by causing a directional bias in dispersal rate, as certain landscape configurations might promote, impede, or prevent movement and gene flow. In forested landscapes, logging operations often contribute to heterogeneity that can reduce functional connectivity for some species. American martens (Martes americana) are one such species, as they are considered specialists of late-seral coniferous forests. We assessed marten gene flow to test the hypothesis that habitat management has maintained landscape connectivity for martens in the managed forests of Ontario, Canada. We genotyped 653 martens at 12 microsatellite loci, sampled from 29 sites across Ontario. We expected that if forest management has an effect on marten gene flow, we would see a correlation between effective resistance, estimated by circuit theory, and genetic distance, estimated by population graphs. Although we found a positive relationship between effective resistance and genetic distance (Mantel r = 0.249, P < 0.001), marten gene flow was better described by isolation by Euclidean distance (Mantel r = 0.410, P < 0.001). Our results suggest that managed forests in Ontario are well connected for marten and neither impede nor promote marten gene flow at the provincial scale.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Linda Dix-Gibson and Lynn Landriault for providing marten genetic samples, and Taryne Chong and Vanessa Meunier for lab work. Funding was provided by NSERC (Discovery grants to JB and PJW, and scholarships to ELK and CJG), a Canada Research Chair to PJW, and the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources. We thank Aaron A. Walpole and Laura M. Thompson for helpful discussions.

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  1. Colin J. Garroway

    Present address: Edward Grey Institute, Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, OX1 3PS, Oxford, UK

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Environmental and Life Sciences, Trent University, 2140 East Bank Drive, Peterborough, ON, K9J 7B8, Canada

    Erin L. Koen & Colin J. Garroway

  2. Wildlife Research & Development Section, Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, Trent University DNA Building, 2140 East Bank Drive, Peterborough, ON, K9J 7B8, Canada

    Jeff Bowman

  3. Northeast Science and Information Section, Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, P.O. Bag 3020, 5520 Hwy. 101 E., South Porcupine, ON, P0N 1H0, Canada

    Stephen C. Mills

  4. Biology Department, Trent University, 2140 East Bank Drive, Peterborough, ON, K9J 7B8, Canada

    Paul J. Wilson

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Correspondence to Erin L. Koen.

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Koen, E.L., Bowman, J., Garroway, C.J. et al. Landscape resistance and American marten gene flow. Landscape Ecol 27, 29–43 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-011-9675-2

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