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. 2018 Aug 31;11(10):1859-1872.
doi: 10.1111/eva.12686. eCollection 2018 Dec.

Walking in a heterogeneous landscape: Dispersal, gene flow and conservation implications for the giant panda in the Qinling Mountains

Tianxiao Ma  1   2 , Yibo Hu  1   3 , Isa-Rita M Russo  4 , Yonggang Nie  1   3 , Tianyou Yang  5 , Lijuan Xiong  5 , Shuai Ma  1   2 , Tao Meng  6 , Han Han  1 , Ximing Zhang  7 , Michael W Bruford  4   8 , Fuwen Wei  1   2   3
Affiliations

Walking in a heterogeneous landscape: Dispersal, gene flow and conservation implications for the giant panda in the Qinling Mountains

Tianxiao Ma et al. Evol Appl. .

Abstract

Understanding the interaction between life history, demography and population genetics in threatened species is critical for the conservations of viable populations. In the context of habitat loss and fragmentation, identifying the factors that underpin the structuring of genetic variation within populations can allow conservationists to evaluate habitat quality and connectivity and help to design dispersal corridors effectively. In this study, we carried out a detailed, fine-scale landscape genetic investigation of a giant panda population from the Qinling Mountains for the first time. With a large microsatellite data set and complementary analysis methods, we examined the role of isolation-by-barriers (IBB), isolation-by-distance (IBD) and isolation-by-resistance (IBR) in shaping the pattern of genetic variation in this giant panda population. We found that the Qinling population comprises one continuous genetic cluster, and among the landscape hypotheses tested, gene flow was found to be correlated with resistance gradients for two topographic factors, slope aspect and topographic complexity, rather than geographical distance or barriers. Gene flow was inferred to be facilitated by easterly slope aspect and to be constrained by topographically complex landscapes. These factors are related to benign microclimatic conditions for both the pandas and the food resources they rely on and more accessible topographic conditions for movement, respectively. We identified optimal corridors based on these results, aiming to promote gene flow between human-induced habitat fragments. These findings provide insight into the permeability and affinities of giant panda habitats and offer important reference for the conservation of the giant panda and its habitat.

Keywords: isolation‐by‐barriers; isolation‐by‐distance; isolation‐by‐resistance; landscape genetics; topographic variables.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Map of study area with locations of 178 giant panda individuals
Figure 2
Figure 2
Spatial autocorrelograms of all giant pandas, all females and all males. Spatial autocorrelograms of genetic correlation coefficient (r) as a function of geographical distance, with the permuted 95% confidence intervals (dashed lines) indicating random spatial genetic structure and the bootstrapped 95% confidence error bars around r. a) All giant panda individuals (n = 179); b) females only (n = 102); c) males only (n = 59)
Figure 3
Figure 3
Maps of the current density and potential corridors in the study area. a) The current map was generated by CIRCUITSCAPE V3.5, and displayed by histogram equalization. The areas with the highest current density representing the highest connectivity are shown in red while the lowest are shown in blue colour. b) The resistance surface map based on the best hypothesis, Aspect + TC, about the gene flow, with the information of roads and human disturbances also shown. The proposed best position for corridor between adjacent habitat components are highlighted with green, with Corridor C1, C2, C3, C4 connected TBH + NWH, NWH + XT, XT + TJ, TJ + PHL, respectively
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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