Multiscale patterns of isolation by ecology and fine-scale population structure in Texas bobcats.

ABSTRACT: Patterns of spatial genetic variation can be generated by a variety of ecological processes, including individual preferences based on habitat. These ecological processes act at multiple spatial and temporal scales, generating scale-dependent effects on gene flow. In this study, we focused on bobcats (Lynx rufus), a highly mobile, generalist felid that exhibits ecological and behavioral plasticity, high abundance, and broad connectivity across much of their range. However, bobcats also show genetic differentiation along habitat breaks, a pattern typically observed in cases of isolation-by-ecology (IBE). The IBE observed in bobcats is hypothesized to occur due to habitat-biased dispersal, but it is unknown if this occurs at other habitat breaks across their range or at what spatial s

SUBMITTER: Cancellare IA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8180196 | biostudies-literature | 2021

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature