Landscape limits gene flow and drives population structure in Agassiz's desert tortoise (Gopherus agassizii).

ABSTRACT: Distance, environmental heterogeneity and local adaptation can strongly influence population structure and connectivity. Understanding how these factors shape the genomic landscape of threatened species is a major goal in conservation genomics and wildlife management. Herein, we use thousands (6,859) of single nucleotide polymorphism markers and spatial data from hundreds of individuals (n = 646) to re-evaluate the population structure of Agassiz's desert tortoise (Gopherus agassizii). Analyses resolve from 4 to 8 spatially well-defined clusters across the range. Western, central, and southern populations within the Western Mojave recovery unit are consistent throughout, while analyses sometimes merge other recovery units depending on the level of clustering. Causal modeling consistently a

SUBMITTER: Sanchez-Ramirez S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6060138 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature