Commensalism facilitates gene flow in mountains: a comparison between two Rattus species.

ABSTRACT: Small mammal dispersal is strongly affected by geographical barriers. However, commensal small mammals may be passively transported over large distances and strong barriers by humans (often with agricultural products). This pattern should be especially apparent in topographically complex landscapes, such as mountain ranges, where valleys and/or peaks can limit dispersal of less vagile species. We predict that commensal species would have lower genetic differentiation and higher migration rates than related non-commensals in such landscapes. We contrasted population genetic differentiation in two sympatric Rattus species (R. satarae and R. rattus) in the Western Ghats mountains in southern India. We sampled rats from villages and adjacent forests in seven locations (20-640 km apart). Captur

SUBMITTER: Varudkar A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4814239 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature