Record Details

Landscape effects on gene flow for a climate-sensitive montane species, the American pika

ScholarsArchive at Oregon State University

Field Value
Title Landscape effects on gene flow for a climate-sensitive montane species, the American pika
Names Castillo, Jessica A. (creator)
Epps, Clinton W. (creator)
Davis, Anne R. (creator)
Cushman, Samuel A. (creator)
Date Issued 2014-02 (iso8601)
Note To the best of our knowledge, one or more authors of this paper were federal employees when contributing to this work. This is the publisher’s final pdf. The published article is copyrighted by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. and can be found at: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1365-294X.
Abstract Climate change is arguably the greatest challenge to conservation of our time. Most
vulnerability assessments rely on past and current species distributions to predict
future persistence but ignore species’ abilities to disperse through landscapes, which
may be particularly important in fragmented habitats and crucial for long-term persistence
in changing environments. Landscape genetic approaches explore the interactions
between landscape features and gene flow and can clarify how organisms move among
suitable habitats, but have suffered from methodological uncertainties. We used a
landscape genetic approach to determine how landscape and climate-related features
influence gene flow for American pikas (Ochotona princeps) in Crater Lake National
Park. Pikas are heat intolerant and restricted to cool microclimates; thus, range contractions
have been predicted as climate changes. We evaluated the correlation between
landscape variables and genetic distance using partial Mantel tests in a causal modelling
framework, and used spatially explicit simulations to evaluate methods of model
optimization including a novel approach based on relative support and reciprocal causal
modelling. We found that gene flow was primarily restricted by topographic relief,
water and west-facing aspects, suggesting that physical restrictions related to small
body size and mode of locomotion, as well as exposure to relatively high temperatures,
limit pika dispersal in this alpine habitat. Our model optimization successfully identified
landscape features influencing resistance in the simulated data for this landscape,
but underestimated the magnitude of resistance. This is the first landscape genetic
study to address the fundamental question of what limits dispersal and gene flow in
the American pika.
Genre Article
Topic Causal modelling
Identifier Castillo, J. A., Epps, C. W., Davis, A. R. and Cushman, S. A. (2014), Landscape effects on gene flow for a climate-sensitive montane species, the American pika. Molecular Ecology, 23: 843–856. doi: 10.1111/mec.12650

© Western Waters Digital Library - GWLA member projects - Designed by the J. Willard Marriott Library - Hosted by Oregon State University Libraries and Press