Do male and female black-backed woodpeckers respond differently to gaps in habitat?

ABSTRACT: We used population- and individual-based genetic approaches to assess barriers to movement in black-backed woodpeckers (Picoides arcticus), a fire-specialist that mainly occupies the boreal forest in North America. We tested if male and female woodpeckers exhibited the same movement patterns using both spatially implicit and explicit genetic analyses to define population structure and movement patterns of both sexes among populations. Three genetic groups were identified, a large, genetically continuous population that spans from the Rocky Mountains to Quebec, a small isolated population in South Dakota and a separate population in the western portion of their distribution (Oregon). Patterns of genetic diversity suggest extensive gene flow mediated by both males and females within the cont

SUBMITTER: Pierson JC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3352463 | biostudies-literature | 2010 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature