Evaluating the influence of life-history characteristics on genetic structure: a comparison of small mammals inhabiting complex agricultural landscapes.

ABSTRACT: Conversion of formerly continuous native habitats into highly fragmented landscapes can lead to numerous negative demographic and genetic impacts on native taxa that ultimately reduce population viability. In response to concerns over biodiversity loss, numerous investigators have proposed that traits such as body size and ecological specialization influence the sensitivity of species to habitat fragmentation. In this study, we examined how differences in body size and ecological specialization of two rodents (eastern chipmunk; Tamias striatus and white-footed mouse; Peromyscus leucopus) impact their genetic connectivity within the highly fragmented landscape of the Upper Wabash River Basin (UWB), Indiana, and evaluated whether landscape configuration and complexity influenced patterns of

SUBMITTER: Kierepka EM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5016657 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature