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1 December 2006 The effects of 20 years of highway presence on the genetic structure of Rana dalmatina populations
David Lesbarrères, Craig R. Primmer, Thierry Lodé, Juha Merilä
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Abstract

Habitat destruction and fragmentation caused by highways can negatively affect animal populations, but a better understanding of the effects of highways on population genetic structure is still needed to improve conservation plans in urbanized landscapes. We investigated the degree of genetic variability and differentiation within and among seven Rana dalmatina populations located far from highly trafficked roads (non-fragmented populations) and four populations sampled on both sides of a major highway (fragmented populations). The degree of population subdivision was significantly higher among fragmented (FST = 0.238) as compared to non-fragmented populations (FST = 0.022). Furthermore, in the four fragmented populations, significantly lower allelic richness as compared to non-fragmented populations was observed. Together with potential high levels of road mortality leading to smaller population size, these results suggest that separation by highways not only has reduced the genetic diversity and polymorphism in local populations over two decades, but also has resulted in a higher degree of population differentiation, most likely due to genetic drift.

David Lesbarrères, Craig R. Primmer, Thierry Lodé, and Juha Merilä "The effects of 20 years of highway presence on the genetic structure of Rana dalmatina populations," Ecoscience 13(4), 531-538, (1 December 2006). https://doi.org/10.2980/1195-6860(2006)13[531:TEOYOH]2.0.CO;2
Received: 23 January 2006; Accepted: 12 June 2006; Published: 1 December 2006
KEYWORDS
agile frog
allelic richness
autoroute
différentiation génétique
fragmentation
fragmentation
genetic differentiation
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