Breed locally, disperse globally: fine-scale genetic structure despite landscape-scale panmixia in a fire-specialist.

ABSTRACT: An exciting advance in the understanding of metapopulation dynamics has been the investigation of how populations respond to ephemeral patches that go 'extinct' during the lifetime of an individual. Previous research has shown that this scenario leads to genetic homogenization across large spatial scales. However, little is known about fine-scale genetic structuring or how this changes over time in ephemeral patches. We predicted that species that specialize on ephemeral habitats will delay dispersal to exploit natal habitat patches while resources are plentiful and thus display fine-scale structure. To investigate this idea, we evaluated the effect of frequent colonization of ephemeral habitats on the fine-scale genetic structure of a fire specialist, the black-backed woodpecker (Picoides

SUBMITTER: Pierson JC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3692495 | biostudies-literature | 2013

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature