To what extent do human-altered landscapes retain population connectivity? Historical changes in gene flow of wetland fish Pungitius pungitius.

ABSTRACT: Understanding how human-altered landscapes affect population connectivity is valuable for conservation planning. Natural connectivity among wetlands, which is maintained by floods, is disappearing owing to farmland expansion. Using genetic data, we assessed historical changes in the population connectivity of the ninespine stickleback within a human-altered wetland system. We predicted that: (i) the contemporary gene flow maintained by the artificial watercourse network may be restricted to a smaller spatial scale compared with the gene flow preceding alteration, and (ii) the contemporary gene flow is dominated by the downstream direction owing to the construction of low-head barriers. We evaluated the potential source population in both timescales. Seventeen studied populations were group

SUBMITTER: Ishiyama N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4632577 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature