Occasional long-distance dispersal may not prevent inbreeding in a threatened butterfly.

ABSTRACT:

Background

To set up successful conservation measures, detailed knowledge on the dispersal and colonization capacities of the focal species and connectivity between populations is of high relevance. We developed species-specific nuclear microsatellite molecular markers for the grayling (Hipparchia semele), a butterfly endemic to Europe and of growing conservation concern in North-West Europe, and report on its population genetics, in a fragmented, anthropogenic landscape in Belgium. Our study included samples from 23 different locations nested in two regions and additional historical samples from two locations. We assessed contemporary, long-distance dispersal based on genetic assignment tests and investigated the effect of habitat loss and fragmentation on the population genetic s

SUBMITTER: De Ro A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8711176 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature