Habitat predictors of genetic diversity for two sympatric wetland-breeding amphibian species.

ABSTRACT: Population genetic diversity is widely accepted as important to the conservation and management of wildlife. However, habitat features may differentially affect evolutionary processes that facilitate population genetic diversity among sympatric species. We measured genetic diversity for two pond-breeding amphibian species (Dwarf salamanders, Eurycea quadridigitata; and Southern Leopard frogs, Lithobates sphenocephalus) to understand how habitat characteristics and spatial scale affect genetic diversity across a landscape. Samples were collected from wetlands on a longleaf pine reserve in Georgia. We genotyped microsatellite loci for both species to assess population structures and determine which habitat features were most closely associated with observed heterozygosity and r

SUBMITTER: McKee AM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5574763 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature